BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Thursday adopted fresh measures to fight bird flu, banning live birds from markets or exhibitions without permission and urging states to keep wild flocks away from poultry feed. 

The European Commission said a committee of EU veterinary experts had agreed on the measures, including recommendations for protecting birds in zoos and the extension of a ban on imports of pet birds and feathers from many regions in Russia. 

The ban will remain in place for six months, a Commission spokeswoman said. 

The experts were discussing ways to keep the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which re-emerged in South Korea in 2003 and has spread west as far as Romania and western Turkey, from sweeping across Europe. 

It has killed 67 people and huge numbers of birds in Asia, but health experts' biggest fear is that the virus may mutate into a form that passes easily between humans, triggering a worldwide pandemic that could kill millions. 

"The standing committee also agreed on an immediate, EU-wide ban on the collection of birds on markets, shows, exhibitions and cultural events unless specifically authorized by member state authorities ..." the Commission said in a statement. 

It said member states could vaccinate zoo birds when appropriate. "All vaccinated birds must be identified and recorded, and trade in these birds will be prohibited except under specific authorization," it said. 

It has also restricted the use of certain decoy birds and said member states should "ensure that wild birds have no contact with feed and water destined for poultry." Wild birds migrating south for the winter carry the virus. 

The experts supported a Commission decision to extend a ban on the import of pet birds and feathers from Siberia to cover the whole of Russia except for some regions like Kaliningrad and areas on the Finnish border. 

This follows confirmation from Moscow on Wednesday of an outbreak of the H5N1 virus in the Tula region some 200 km (125 miles) south of the Russian capital. 

The regions excluded from the ban include Kaliningrad, the Leningrad region and St Petersburg, Karelia and Murmansk. 

"The geographical scope of that decision has been decided on the basis of a risk assessment which has been carried out by the Commission and the member states and which will be reviewed in light of the evolution of the situation in Russia," Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen told a briefing. 

Ahrenkilde Hansen also said a first test of a separate Greek sample had found no bird flu but further tests were needed. 

"The preliminary test was carried out on that sample, which proved negative," she said. "Further tests are required, and the Commission has asked for further samples to be sent for testing."