H5 strain of bird flu reported in Canada
A senior government source told national newswire The Canadian Press today that several wild birds in Quebec and Ontario have turned up carrying an H5 strain of avian flu.
The source said officials don’t know yet whether the birds have the deadly H5N1 strain for the avian flu or whether it’s the exact strain responsible for lingering poultry outbreaks in south-east Asia.
The birds are among thousands that have been sampled in Canada.
Health officials won’t know until midweek whether they have H5N1 or not.
The H5 strains have been found before in North America.
Parts of Mexico have suffered through an outbreak of H5N2 avian flu in poultry operations for more than a decade.
Even if the Canadian birds have the H5N1 virus, it does not mean they are necessarily closely related to the viruses behind the Asian outbreaks.
The World Health Organisation says those outbreaks have infected 121 people and caused 62 deaths in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.
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