OTTAWA /WINNIPEG — A backyard flock of geese, ducks and chickens in Eastern Canada was not infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain, officials said Tuesday, dismissing fears that the strain might have arrived in North America for the first time.
The fears had been aroused after a gosling in the small flock in Prince Edward Island died, and a lab in Eastern Canada examined it and found evidence of H5 avian flu.
But the officials said Tuesday that Canada 's national laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, had not been able to reproduce the virus found by the Eastern lab.
The officials told a conference call announcing their test results that there was no risk to people, to other animals, or to the environment.
"It may have been H5N1 but it wouldn't have been the H5N1 that we have concerns about, in other words the Asian strain," said Dr. Jim Clark, veterinarian for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus only occasionally infects people, but when it does, the fatality rate is high. It has killed 130 people in nine countries, and is also marked by a high mortality rate in birds.
Clark said the highly pathogenic virus has a relatively long life span, and would have survived the journey to the Winnipeg lab.
He said the bird probably had a low pathogen virus, but its cause of death remains a "matter of conjecture".
The bird flu scare started last Friday after officials said the gosling had tested positive for H5 avian flu, and they were carrying out further tests to determine what strain of the disease it had.
The bird was part of a noncommercial flock of 35 to 40 chickens, geese and ducks in Prince Edward Island, a province with only seven commercial chicken farms, none of them within a 10 km (6 mile) radius of the affected farm.
Not all H5 viruses are highly pathogenic and Canada has had low pathogenic bird flu outbreaks in the past.
The low pathogenic H5N2 strain was discovered in British Columbia in November 2005. The birds did not show signs of illness, but 60,000 ducks and geese were culled.
There was a highly pathogenic case of H5N9 bird flu in 1966 and a case of high pathogenic H7N3 in 2004.
The flock where the dead Prince Edward Island gosling was found was culled and a neighboring backyard flock was quarantined briefly. Clark said results from tests on the birds on this farm were also negative, and the CFIA will lift the quarantine.
"We can reasonably say, based on the information we have available, it's unlikely that there was an avian influenza virus that killed these goslings," Clark said.
The original backyard farm will remain under quarantine until testing is finished.
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