Brussels, 13/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Commission approved the vaccination programme against bird flu in the Italian regions of Venetia and Lombardy and has imposed restrictions on the transport of living birds, hatching eggs, table eggs and fresh poultry meat. Bird flu is a highly contagious viral infection. The virus exists in a low level pathogen form that can develop into epidemics. Transformation into one form or another can occur if the virus mutates. Following an epidemic of the disease in Italy in 1999-2000, 14 million animals died or were slaughtered, causing considerable economic losses in the poultry-farming sector. In October 2002, as part of the move to monitor bird flu, low levels of the pathogen wee detected in the regions of Venetia and Lombardy. In an effort to stop the disease spreading and prevent any possible mutation of the virus into a higher pathogen form, the Italian authorities adopted pro-active measures and began slaughtering affected batches. They are also going to apply the vaccination to at-risk companies.