December 23, 2005

Colombia is free from bird flu

Colombia is free of all types of bird flu more than two months after a mild strain of the virus was discovered on three farms, the government said on Thursday.

Countries including Ecuador and Venezuela temporarily banned imports of Colombian poultry after a mild strain of bird flu struck those farms in October.

Colombian officials have noted that the strain was harmless to humans and was entirely different from the deadly H5N1 strain that has killed at least 71 people in Asia.

Testing by the Colombian Agricultural Institute, working together with a US laboratory in Iowa, determined that no type of the virus is present in the South American country--neither H5 strain nor the mild H9 strain, Agriculture Minister Andres Arias said in a statement.

The mild strain that previously appeared had been eradicated, the government said. It did not elaborate.