Canada bird flu not highly pathogenic H5N1: source

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) – A gosling from a Canadian backyard flock
did not die of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu
found in Asia, Europe and Africa, a Canadian source said on
Tuesday.

“The news is good. The dead bird was not carrying the
highly pathogenic strain of H5N1,” the source told Reuters. The
source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give
more details on the results of tests on the dead bird.

Officials said last Friday that the gosling had tested
positive for H5 avian flu, prompting scattered fears that the
highly pathogenic H5N1 strain might have reached North America
for the first time.

The bird was part of a noncommercial flock of 35 to 40
chickens, geese and ducks in the eastern province of Prince
Edward Island.

Officials said last week that they were carrying out
further tests to determine what strain of the disease it had,
and they insisted there was no danger to the public.

The Canada Food Inspection Agency was due to release
results of the bird flu tests on Tuesday at mid-afternoon.

But officials had also been cautiously playing down the
possibility that the bird had suffered from the H5N1 strain
found in Asia and other regions.

“That virus is marked by very high mortality in birds,
which was not observed in this particular situation,” the CFIA
said on Monday.

Not all H5 viruses are highly pathogenic and not all will
cause severe disease in poultry.

Canada has had low pathogenic bird flu outbreaks in the
past, most recently in British Columbia in November 2005, when
the low pathogenic H5N2 strain was discovered.

Those birds did not show signs of illness, but 60,000 ducks
and geese were culled in the western province.

There was a highly pathogenic case of H5N9 bird flu in 1966
and a case of high pathogenic H7N3 in 2004.

Prince Edward Island, scene of the latest case, has only
seven commercial chicken farms and industry officials said
there are none within a 10 km (6 mile) radius of the affected
farm.

The flock where the dead gosling was found was culled and a
neighboring backyard flock was quarantined.