May 12, 2004

 

 

New Strain Of Bird Flu Found In British Columbia

 

A new strain of bird flu has been found in British Columbia's Fraser Valley, different from anything seen in the area before, officials said.

 

Scientists cannot rule out the possibility the strain is the one responsible for the recent deaths of people in Asia, but they urged residents not to panic.

 

"We don't know what it is," said Sally Greenwood, a spokeswoman for the British Columbia Center for Disease Control. She said it was not the H7 virus that had been identified in province, and that there was possibility it could come back as a H5 subtype.

 

Test results were expected in 48 hours.

 

Some 19 millions chickens and turkeys in Fraser Valley are being culled after an especially aggressive strain of H7 avian flu began killing off birds in March.

 

While the H7N3 virus was especially deadly to birds, it was not considered dangerous to humans.

 

A deadly strain of avian flu jumped to humans earlier this year in Asia, killing 23 people in Thailand and Vietnam and prompting the precautionary slaughter of millions of fowl in 10 Asian countries.

 

The provincial poultry industry has been hard hit. Several Asian countries have closed their borders to Canadian chicken products.

 

Dr. Perry Kendall, British Columbia's medical health officer, said scientists did an antigen test for an H5 virus when testing the geese and ducks. "They found what looked like antibodies to an H5 subtype, but they couldn't actually confirm it," he said.

 

But even if the virus turns out to be an H5, that does not mean it is the same deadly form seen in Asia.

 

The H and N represent different proteins, and there are multiple varieties of each. The proteins combine in different ways to make up specific viruses, some more deadly than others.

 

"There are different H5 subtypes that have been found in North America before now," Kendall said.

 

"We don't know which one this is. The fact it wasn't causing illness in the birds suggests it probably isn't the (virulent) variety that has been killing birds in the Far East, but we don't want to take any chances or take any risks."

Greenwood said the mystery virus was discovered when blood tests of the birds showed antibodies, indicating they had been exposed to it at some point in the past.

 

Canadian poultry exports, worth C$125 million ($94 million) a year, are small in a global sense.