SOFIA - Bulgaria`s first suspected cases of bird flu in poultry were not caused by the potentially lethal H5 or H7 viruses, according to preliminary tests done in Sofia.
Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil said however that more tests would be conducted and results from a sample that was sent to the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge, Britain, were expected within 10 days.
About a thousand birds have been culled since Kabil announced on Thursday that bird flu had been found in poultry for the first time in the country.
The virus was detected on two farms in the village of Slanchogled, near Djebel in southern Bulgaria. The affected farms would receive compensation on Monday, Kabil said.
In February, four cases of the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu virus were registered in swans in northern Bulgaria.
07/21/2006 13:56 GMT