Thousands of goslings showing symptoms of bird flu were culled near Derekegyhaz in southeast Hungary at the weekend, the Agriculture Ministry told MTI news agency on Monday.

Some birds in the four-week-old stock showed neural symptoms on Friday, suggesting that they had been infected by the bird flu virus.

A forensic veterinary examination raised the suspicion of a bacterial infection. Although the disease could not be diagnosed, all the 9,400 goslings kept on the farm near Derekegyhaz were culled on Saturday.

Samples of the bodies of the geese have been sent to Budapest for testing.

The European Union's central laboratory in Britain has meanwhile confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain in birds culled in Hungary last week, European Commission's Health and Consumer Protection spokesperson Philip Tod said on Monday.

This is the first reappearance of the H5N1 virus strain in the European Union since last summer, he said.

Tod noted that the late winter period is especially dangerous from the point of bird flu and extra precautions are necessary in all EU countries.

The Bulgarian Agriculture and Forestry Ministry announced Monday to ban the sale of live birds to prevent the spread of the bird flu virus which is registered in Hungary, BTA reported.

The ban also urged the poultry farm managers in all Danube and Black Sea towns to restrain their birds indoor, said BTA, citing news from the press center of the ministry.

The ministry ordered all the local municipalities to hold meetings of the epidemic commissions and to carry out all necessary measures to prevent the avian flu.

The general director of the National Veterinary-medical Agency is authorized to take controls to all the poultry farms and to ensure effects of the current disinfection technique and equipment.

The Ministry also asked all border veterinary points to pay more attention to the poultry products imported by passengers from third countries.

Meanwhile, the Romanian authorities have taken serious precautions along the border to prevent the virus from spreading into the country, the national Rompres news agency reported on Monday.

The Medical and Veterinary Authority informed all border checkpoints in Romania and asked them to step up checks to prevent the entry of poultry or related products originating from Hungary where bird flu was reported, Rompres said.

It added that veterinary authorities in several counties close to the border with Hungary will also step up checks in local poultry farms and will strictly monitor communities of migrating birds in the area.

"Imports of live poultry, meat and meat-related products from a ten-kilometer area surrounding the bird flu outbreak in the southeast of Hungary will be restricted. Imports from the rest of the Hungarian territory will still be able to reach the Romanian market," head of the Romanian Veterinary Authority Marian Avram was cited as saying earlier.

Veterinary inspectors in western Romanian Counties of Timis and Arad have already begun checks to confirm whether local poultry farms had adopted bio-security measures and whether local residents, especially those living near lakes or rivers, had kept their poultry locked in order to avoid contacts with migrating birds.

Meanwhile, in Arad, samples tests on 16 dead chickens and several pigeons found dead were confirmed negative for the presence of the H5 bird flu virus.

The Hungarian bird flu outbreak is located only 60 kilometers away from Arad.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2007)