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by Dave Gradijan

Report: U.K.’s First Case of H5N1 in Wild Fowl Confirmed in Scotland

News
Apr 06, 20062 mins
CSO and CISOData and Information Security

On Thursday, tests confirmed that the H5N1 strain of bird flu was discovered in a wild mute swan found dead last week in a Scottish coastal town, and the discovery represents the United Kingdom’s first case of the deadly strain in wild birds, Reuters reports.

The Reuters report is based on a television broadcast Thursday by Sky television.

According to The Register, H5N1 was discovered in the United Kingdom last year in quarantined birds that had been imported.

Scottish Department of Environment officials had not received the test results, according to Reuters.

Britain would be the 14th country in the European Union to identify H5N1 on its soil, Reuters reports.

Researchers at a southern England laboratory are reviewing samples from the dead bird, and results are expected later Thursday, according to Reuters.

Charles Mine, Scotland’s chief veterinary officer, said the origin of the partially devoured swan carcass is unknown, but so far there are no signs of the virus in domestic poultry and no evidence that the bird was eaten by domestic fowl, Reuters reports.

Jim Robertson of the National Institutes for Biological Standards and Control said, “The risk to humans has not changed by the fact that we have found the virus in the U.K.,” according to Reuters.

For related CSO content, read Planning for Pandemic and Researchers: Immunizations, Quarantines Would Stem Flu Pandemic.

For related news coverage, read Twelve-Year-Old in Cambodia Dies of Avian Flu, Study: Travel Bans Won’t Stop Spread of Avian Flu and Report: First Bird Flu Vaccine is Only Partially Effective; GlaxoSmithKline Tests Two New Treatments.

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