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Wild birds with H5 flu virus found in Canada
CTV.ca News Staff
Several wild birds carrying H5 flu viruses have been found in Quebec and Manitoba, officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced Monday.
"Preliminary testing has identified H5 influenza in 28 samples from Quebec, and five from Manitoba," Jim Clark of the CFIA told a news conference.
However, officials don't know yet if the birds have the lethal H5N1 subtype of the avian flu; there are believed to be nine different H5 subtypes.
And he noted that the virus does not appear to be killing the birds.
"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.
Health officials in Winnipeg conducting tests on the H5-infected birds won't know whether they have H5N1 until mid-week.
The birds are believed to be among thousands that have been tested in Canada.
Even if the Canadian birds are carrying the H5N1 virus, it does not mean they are necessarily related to the viruses behind the poultry outbreaks in southeast Asia.
"It is important to clarify that the avian influenza virus is not new to wild birds," Clark said. "Experts worldwide know that this virus, in one form or another, has circulated among wild birds around the world for hundreds, or perhaps even for thousands of years."
Indeed, it's not the first time that avian viruses have been found in North America. For more than a decade, parts of Mexico suffered through an outbreak of the H5N2 avian flu in poultry operations.
And last year in Canada, testing revealed that the avian flu found on a goose and duck farm near Abbotsford, B.C. was not the deadly H5 variety. Instead, the CFIA said that the 37,000 geese on the Fraser Valley Duck and Goose Ltd. farm were exposed to the H6 avian influenza virus.
The outbreak caused no major human health problems, but forced the culling of some 16 million poultry.
So far, the outbreaks in Asia have infected 121 people and caused more than 60 deaths in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.
With the strain crawling through Europe as migrating fowl fly westward, there are mounting fears that the virus could mutate into one that can easily spread among humans and thus prompt a global pandemic.
Earlier in the month, Australia lifted a ban on live bird imports from Canada, after officials in Ottawa provided compelling evidence proving the country was free of H5N1.
Australian officials announced the ban after three imported racing pigeons from Canada tested positive for bird flu antibodies. The pigeons, which were later destroyed, tested positive for bird flu antibodies while being held in quarantine in the southern city of Melbourne.
That means the three birds weren't infected with avian flu, but rather that they had fought off a previous infection.
Antibodies help strengthen the immune system and, unlike the viruses they fight, aren't infectious.
CTV.ca News Staff
Several wild birds carrying H5 flu viruses have been found in Quebec and Manitoba, officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced Monday.
"Preliminary testing has identified H5 influenza in 28 samples from Quebec, and five from Manitoba," Jim Clark of the CFIA told a news conference.
However, officials don't know yet if the birds have the lethal H5N1 subtype of the avian flu; there are believed to be nine different H5 subtypes.
And he noted that the virus does not appear to be killing the birds.
"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.
Health officials in Winnipeg conducting tests on the H5-infected birds won't know whether they have H5N1 until mid-week.
The birds are believed to be among thousands that have been tested in Canada.
Even if the Canadian birds are carrying the H5N1 virus, it does not mean they are necessarily related to the viruses behind the poultry outbreaks in southeast Asia.
"It is important to clarify that the avian influenza virus is not new to wild birds," Clark said. "Experts worldwide know that this virus, in one form or another, has circulated among wild birds around the world for hundreds, or perhaps even for thousands of years."
Indeed, it's not the first time that avian viruses have been found in North America. For more than a decade, parts of Mexico suffered through an outbreak of the H5N2 avian flu in poultry operations.
And last year in Canada, testing revealed that the avian flu found on a goose and duck farm near Abbotsford, B.C. was not the deadly H5 variety. Instead, the CFIA said that the 37,000 geese on the Fraser Valley Duck and Goose Ltd. farm were exposed to the H6 avian influenza virus.
The outbreak caused no major human health problems, but forced the culling of some 16 million poultry.
So far, the outbreaks in Asia have infected 121 people and caused more than 60 deaths in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.
With the strain crawling through Europe as migrating fowl fly westward, there are mounting fears that the virus could mutate into one that can easily spread among humans and thus prompt a global pandemic.
Earlier in the month, Australia lifted a ban on live bird imports from Canada, after officials in Ottawa provided compelling evidence proving the country was free of H5N1.
Australian officials announced the ban after three imported racing pigeons from Canada tested positive for bird flu antibodies. The pigeons, which were later destroyed, tested positive for bird flu antibodies while being held in quarantine in the southern city of Melbourne.
That means the three birds weren't infected with avian flu, but rather that they had fought off a previous infection.
Antibodies help strengthen the immune system and, unlike the viruses they fight, aren't infectious.