Azerbaijan, Baku, 29 February / Trend corr. S.Babayeva / The second monitoring for the prevention of bird flu in 2008 has revealed that Azerbaijan is clear of the virus, the State Veterinary Service at Agricultural Ministry of Azerbaijan reported.
"From the samples of animals submitted to the laboratory, no symptoms were revealed of the virus," State Service reported.
The monitoring covers the Absheron Peninsula, including the coastline of the Caspian Sea, Davachi, Salyan, Agjabadi and Lankaran regions from 18 to 29 February.
In total 2,112 samples of domestic animals and 11 wild animals were submitted to the laboratory.
In 2007, the State Service held 12 monitoring exercises, and over 8,000 samples of wild birds and poultry were analyzed. Neither of them revealed any signs of the Bird Flu virus.
The ban on hunting, use and sale of wild birds in Azerbaijan which was imposed in autumn 2005 is still in force. All border checkpoints in the country are on medium security in order to prevent the spread of bird flu in the country.