LONDON—The highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain has been confirmed in three wild mute swans found dead in Dorset, southern England, Britain's farm ministry said on Thursday.
Britain's first case of the deadly strain was in a wild swan found dead in Cellardyke in Scotland in 2006 and there have subsequently been outbreaks at poultry farms in eastern England, most recently last November.
In the latest incident, no disease has been found in domestic birds and a surveillance programme is being carried out in the local wild bird population, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said.
The virulent H5N1 strain has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003 and millions of birds had either died from it or been killed to prevent its spread.
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