Brussels, 09/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - According to an assessment form the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, the risk of catching the H5N1 virus while bathing in Europe's lakes, rivers and seas is close to zero. This information, released on 9 June, is aimed at holiday makers, for whom summer is about to begin (see related article), and will be regularly up-dated. The assessment takes account of available knowledge on zoonoses (animal diseases capable of infecting humans), in general, and the H5N1 strain of bird flu since it appeared in Asia in 2003. At the moment, the bird flu strain is poorly adapted to humans. The dilution of the virus in large volumes of water reduces still further the risk of catching the illness to practically nil. Nonetheless, the ECDC points out that, what is true for the H5N1 virus, may not be for other zoonoses and various microbes to be found in bathing water.