Canada discovers strain of avian flu in wild ducks

OTTAWA - Canada has discovered a strain of H5 avian flu in 33 wild migratory ducks but it is unlikely to be the killer H5N1 strain which has spread from Southeast Asia to Europe, a top health official said today.

Jim Clark of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said a recent survey of 4,800 wild birds had found the H5 virus in 28 birds in the eastern province of Quebec and five in the central province of Manitoba.

"These findings do not indicate that we are dealing with a virus strain capable of causing significant illness," Clark told a news conference.

"The evidence we have observed strongly indicates that these healthy birds were not infected with the same virus that is currently present in Asia," he said.

The final tests on the bird samples will be ready in about a week. There are nine known N strains of the H5 virus.

Questioned on why he was announcing the discovery of a nonlethal strain of bird flu, Clark said, "I can't categorically state that what we're dealing with here isn't H5N1. It's highly unlikely."

The H5N1 strain was transmitted from Asia to Europe by migratory birds and some experts say it is likely to spread to the rest of the world. Experts fear that H5N1 will mutate just enough to allow it to pass easily from person to person, potentially causing a catastrophic pandemic as humans lack immunity to it.

At least 62 people have died from bird flu in an outbreak which started in Southeast Asia in late 2003.

- REUTERS