WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Canada is investigating a second backyard poultry flock for bird flu, although all birds remain healthy, authorities said Sunday.
"A quarantine has been instituted at that premise and it's because there's been contact either with live birds or through foot traffic and potential contamination with the original infected farm," said Canadian Food Inspection Agency veterinarian Jim Clark.
The CFIA announced Friday it had detected a case of H5 avian flu in a gosling from a backyard poultry flock after four goslings died in the eastern province of Prince Edward Island.
Test results are expected Tuesday, to determine whether the virus is a North American or Asian strain. If there is enough virus present, the CFIA will be able to determine whether it is a high or low pathogen strain.
"There's no direct evidence that the influenza virus was the cause of the problem in the four birds that died," Clark added.
All birds on the second farm, adjacent to the original farm, remain healthy and the CFIA has taken some swab samples to determine if the virus exists on that farm.
The noncommercial flock of 35 to 40 ducks, geese and chickens on the original farm were euthanized by the CFIA Friday, and the farm was quarantined.
Backyard flocks within 3 kilometers (2 miles) were being monitored.
Clark said he was not aware of any human illness linked to the virus.
The CFIA has said there is no evidence the case involves the high-pathogen H5N1 strain that has spread to 48 countries since 2003. H5N1 has not been discovered in the Americas.
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