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 COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Bird flu edged closer to Europe's heartland Wednesday with tests confirming the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus had reached Croatia. Health officials said the vast majority of European countries were prepared to fight a possible human flu pandemic, and downplayed the risk of people contracting the disease through food.
The H5N1 strain, which has killed at least 62 people in Asia, had previously been identified in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania. Experts fear the virus could mutate into a type that can be spread easily to and between humans. Outbreaks in birds in Europe are being stamped out rapidly to prevent opportunities for the virus to mutate.
"The chances of the bird flu strain mutating into a human pandemic virus are much higher in Asia, where it is more widespread than in Europe, which only has small pockets of the virus," said Marc Danzon, head of the World Health Organization's European regional office.
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