Bird flu virus found in falcons
Health officials have detected the H5 variant of the bird flu virus in five falcons during routine checks after the end of the hunting season, the Saudi Agriculture Ministry reported.
A Saudi Press Agency report in the kingdom’s newspapers today said 37 hunting falcons were destroyed after tests found that five of the birds in avian centres were infected with the H5 strain.
The agency said samples from the falcons had been sent to international testing centres to determine if any of the infected birds had the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus that has killed dozens of people worldwide, most recently four children in eastern Turkey.
It was not immediately known where the samples were being tested.
So far cases of bird flu in humans have only resulted from contact with infected birds, but world health officials are concerned the virus could mutate, enabling it to be passed among humans.
