Plane Passengers In Bird Flu Scare

From NEWS.com.au: Plane passengers in bird flu scare

EUROPEAN Union authorities launched an alert today to find airline passengers who travelled on flights with a Thai man who tried to smuggle two bird flu-infected eagles into Belgium.

The unidentified Thai man responded to public appeals to come forward overnight and was receiving preventive treatment in a hospital in the northern Belgian city of Antwerp, the Federal Institute of Public Health said.

The EU's executive arm launched its alert following confirmation yesterday that the two Mountain Hawk Eagles were infected with avian influenza, which has hit six Asian nations, killing at least 30 people in Thailand and Vietnam.

The European Commission said it had received a request from Belgian authorities "to assist them in their search for flight passengers of different nationalities who might have been exposed to the flu virus".

The eagles have been destroyed, as have two parrots that were being kept at the same quarantine centre.