The BBC is reporting that a duck found dead in France has tested positive for H5 and is likely to be H5N1, the current major avian flu virus spreading through wild and domestic birds.
Category Archives: Health
Bird Flu spreads to Germany, Austria
More from Google news on bird flu (H5N1) spreading to Germany here and Austria here.
Bird Flu Reaches Italy
The BBC has a breaking news story that H5N1 has reached Italy in Sicily and other cases are suspected elsewhere.
Bird Flu Found in Africa for First Time
According to the BBC H5N1 has arrived in Nigeria, the first time bird flu has been identified in Africa.
This has been seen as something of a worry by scientists due to the size of the continent and the prevalence of AIDS which means many people with weakened immune systems who could both succumb and provide carriers for future mutation of the virus. As this New Scientist editorial said:
It is pretty clear now that wild water birds are carrying the virus. We do not know how many are infected, but they could spread the infection to the rest of Asia next and to Africa, where the prevalence of backyard chickens, poverty and HIV will be an explosive mix. The more humans are infected, the more likely it is that H5N1 will learn to spread between us.
On a complete tangent, Rich Boakes “autometa” tag generator for Technorati came up with the following, rather appropriate, list: h5n1 arrived nigeria time bird identified africa worry
New Bird Flu Cases in Europe
The ABC is reporting that there have been new bird flu cases in Europe, with a new case in Britain where a parrot died in quarrantine. It’s known to be a case of H5, but no word whether it is H5N1 yet.
Croatia has also reported H5 in 6 dead swans which have been sent for testing for H5N1 and Romania has a new suspected case.
Bird Flu in Greece
The BBC is reporting bird flu in Greece and possibly Croatia, test are being carried out to determine if it is H5N1 or not.
H5N1 confirmed in Romania
The BBC is reporting that the bird flu strain in Romania is confirmed as H5N1 by tests done in the UK.
H5N1 Update
The BBC now has their report on H5N1 in Turkey.
Also, here is the Google News H5N1 news search.
H5N1 Reaches Turkey
Just had an email from BBC News saying:
The bird flu virus found in Turkey is the H5N1 strain responsible for more than 60 deaths in Asia, the European Commission says.
It’s not made the BBC website yet, aside from being mentioned as “More Soon” in their ticker.