LONDON, U.K. (Reuters) — Avian flu found on a duck farm in northern England might be linked to a highly contagious strain of the disease found recently on a poultry farm in the Netherlands.
It is also linked to a case early this month in Germany.
The head of the World Organization for Animal Health said the outbreaks could be linked because the virus is most often transmitted through wild birds.
British authorities said the strain was serious for poultry but only a minimal danger to humans and was not the deadly H5N1.
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A 10-kilometre restriction zone has been placed around the farm in Yorkshire, and all 6,000 ducks on the site will be killed.
“The public health risk is very low and there is no risk to the food chain,” said a spokesperson at Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Britain last saw a case of H5N1 in birds in 2008, and although there have been reported cases since, none have been the dangerous H5 or H7 strains, according to Britain’s National Health Service.
Wendy Barclay, a professor specializing in flu virology at Imperial College in London, said bird flu viruses can be dangerous for poultry, but previous outbreaks of H5 strains in Britain have never infected people.
South Korea culled more than six percent of its poultry in March to stop the spread. China and Japan have also reported H5N1cases this year.
