Croatia confirmed Friday night the first bird flu case in the capital of Zagreb after a dead swan found there tested positive for the H5 strain of bird flu virus.

    The dead swan was found on the shores of the Sava River in southeast Zagreb last weekend, said Mladen Pavic, spokesman for the Croatian Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Ministry.

    Tests confirmed that the dead bird had contracted the H5 type of bird flu virus, but test findings as to whether it was the lethal H5N1 strain would be released on Sunday or Monday, reports from Zagreb quoted him as saying.

    Quarantine officers found no other birds after combing the area within a radius of three km of the locale, Pavic said, adding that they would continue to monitor the situation there closely.

    Croatia, which lies under one of the main flight paths for migratory birds, reported its first bird flu case last October when H5N1 was found in six wild swans in the eastern part of the country.

    In late February this year, the disease struck the country´s southern coastal region, where two dead swans were tested positive for H5N1.

    Croatian authorities immediately adopted a series of precautionary measures to curb the spread of the disease, including ordering farmers to keep their poultry indoors to try to prevent them from contracting the virus from wild birds.

    The authorities also halted poultry product imports from bird flu-hit nations, including Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Slovenia.