Greece said on Friday that three more cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had been confirmed in wild fowl, bringing to 22 the number of infected birds found in the country.

"Three wild swans have been confirmed with H5N1 from a group sent for testing to London on February 24," the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

Greece is awaiting test results on eight more cases.

So far, there have been no cases of the bird flu in domestic farm poultry.

Wildlife experts say Greece has received an unusually large number of migratory birds this winter, many of them forced south from their usual wintering grounds in northern Europe by exceptionally severe weather.

Poultry sales have plummeted. Industry sources say that the sector has suffered 120 million euros in losses since bird flu first started to receive widespread media attention in Europe last October.

"Our problems began with what we call ´the television bird flu.´ There have been no cases of bird flu in chickens but there has been a lot of media hype," said Dimitris Livaditis, president of the Greek Association of Poultry Enterprises.

Since February, when the first confirmed case of bird flu was detected on Greek soil, the association says chicken sales have fallen as much as 80 percent.

On Thursday, Greece said it would offer state-guaranteed loans to poultry farmers hit by the sharp drop in sales.

The poultry sector is a major industry in Greece with over 1,500 enterprises involved in chicken and egg production and annual turnover of between 650-700 million euros. It employs an estimated 15,000 full and part-time employees, industry sources said.