Canada reports H5N1 bird flu virus in British Columbia: OIE
Canada reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu virus H5N1 in the province of British Columbia, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday. The outbreak was detected last week in a backyard poultry flock in the province of British Columbia where bird flu cases of the separate H5N2 strain had been reported in December, it said, citing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The agency stressed that H5N1, a strain which can infect humans, had not been reported in a commercial poultry flock in Canada and that the virus found in British Columbia was different from a strain circulating in Asia.
