The European Commission is due to decide by Tuesday whether to ban imports of live wild birds as demanded by Britain after a parrot died in the country of suspected bird flu. Here is a chronology of bird flu developments:
Dec 15, 2003 - South Korea confirms a highly contagious type of bird flu at a chicken farm near Seoul and begins a mass cull of poultry when the virus rapidly spreads across the country.
Jan 8, 2004 - Vietnam says bird flu found on poultry farms.
March 16 - China declares it has stamped out bird flu.
Sept 27 - Thailand says it has found a case where one human probably infected another with bird flu. It says this is an isolated incident posing little risk to the population.
Oct 8, 2005 - Turkey reports first cases of bird flu, raising concern on Europe's doorstep.
Oct 10 - European Commission announces a ban on imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey to the 25-nation EU.
Oct 13 - A strain of H5 bird flu virus is detected in samples from Romanian ducks in Danube delta, confirming arrival of virus in Europe. EU says Turkey has bird flu type dangerous to humans, the avian flu H5N1 high pathogenic virus.
Oct 17 - Greece says bird flu has been detected on the Aegean island Chios, the first case in an EU member state.
Oct 20 - Thailand reports the death of a man from bird flu which, according to the World Health Organization, brings the human death toll throughout Asia to 61, comprising 41 in Vietnam, 13 in Thailand, 3 in Indonesia and 4 in Cambodia.
Oct 21 - Hungary says a vaccine against the deadly strain of bird flu has proven effective. Britain says a parrot that died in quarantine had contracted bird flu. Scientists detect the H5 avian flu virus in wild swans found dead in eastern Croatia.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
