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Canada bird flu not highly pathogenic H5N1: source

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 12:32 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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