A dead swan found in Slovenia this month had died of the lethal H5N1 avian flu virus strain, an Italian government spokesman said today.
"The lab tests from Italy confirmed the H5N1," the spokesman said.
Slovenia sent the samples of the virus from the swan, which was found in an area near the city of Maribor less than 10 kilometres from the Austrian border last week.
This is the first confirmed case of bird flu in the former Yugoslav republic, which joined the European Union in 2004.