July 18, 2005

Philippines free from pathogenic bird flu
 

The Philippine government has declared the country free from the highly pathogenic strain of bird flu on Jul 18, after test results from an Australian laboratory turned out negative.

The country's Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said that the confirmatory test results from the Australian Animal Health Laboratory showed that there was "no active infection" in the ducks.

The Philippine government had already predicted last week that that the ducks found to have bird flu in north Manila might not be carrying the deadly strain H5N1, which has claimed more than 40 human lives in Asia since last year.