LONDON: Britain and Croatia has confirmed cases of bird flu as countries around the world scrambled to put in place measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

In Croatia, the Agriculture Ministry said the country’s first cases of bird flu were confirmed on Friday in six swans found dead in a national park in eastern Croatia, while British officials said a parrot --- imported from the South American nation of Suriname --- that died in quarantine in Britain had been diagnosed with bird flu.

In both cases, authorities did not know if the birds had the deadly H5N1 stran, which has recently been found in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania.

The European Union, which has ordered restrictions on bird markets and shows, and urged nations to present a programme of vaccination for zoo birds as part of measures to  head  off the spread of bird flu, said on Friday that it was preparing a ban on all poultry imports from Croatia.

The Eu’s executive office said Croatian veterinary authorities had told that that the H5 bird flu virus had been isolated in samples taken from wild swans found dead near a pond and a fish farm.

About 1,500 migratory swans arrived in the area a few days ago and the local fish farmer then found about 15 of them dead, the EU said.

Test carried out by Croatian experts on samples from six of the birds led to the discovery of the virus.

Britain’s chief veterinarian Debby Reynolds said on Friday that the diseased bird, which had been imported into Britain from Suriname --- a former Dutch colony in South America --- and held in a quarantine unit with a shipment of birds from Taiwan, had tested positive to a “highly pathogenic” form of bird flu. Further tests were being carried out to see if the bird carried the H5N1 strain, which is easily transmitted between birds, but is hard for humans to contract.

Experts are closely watching the disease, however, for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans.

The government of Norway on Friday joined other European governments who have already ordered poultry farmers to keep their flocks indoors as a precaution against the spread of bird flu from wild birds. The order was imposed in southern and eastern regions of the country, deemed to be at high risk.

Meanwhile, public health officials in Bangkok have ruled out human-to-human transmission of bird flu in a 7-year-dl boy whose father died of the disease last week, a senior Thai health official said yesterday, adding that the boy has fully recovered. Ronarit Benphat no longer has a fever or lung infection, but doctors will monitor him for two more weeks, said Dr Thawat Suntrajarn, director-general of the Department of Communicable Disease Control. --- AP.