A dead swan pulled from a harbor in Britain has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza, officials announced yesterday. The bird was found floating nine days ago in the Scottish town of Cellardyke.
Professor John Oxford, influenza virologist at St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospital, told the Times of London that there was no reason for panic.
"The danger to humans at this stage is virtually zero," he said. "The danger for chickens and turkeys in the immediate area will be much higher."
To date, H5N1 remains a threat mainly to birds. Scottish officials sprang into action to protect domestic flocks.
With tests pending on more than a dozen birds, the Scottish government created a surveillance zone of some 965 square miles (2,500 square kilometers).
The area includes about 175 poultry properties and over three million birds—including more than a quarter million free-range animals.
Local farmers have been asked to move their birds indoors or take other measures to separate them from wild birds—one possible source of the bird flu virus in domestic poultry.
Experts are unsure how the virus reached Scotland. They can't say if the infected swan was a permanent resident or a swan from the Baltic Sea fleeing cold weather.
(Read an excerpt of National Geographic magazine's "Tracking the Next Killer Flu.")
Public Asked to Stay Alert
Debbie Reynolds, the U.K.'s chief veterinary officer, told the BBC that her agency will continue extensive testing. The agency has examined over 3,000 wild birds so far this year.
Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist at Aberdeen University in Scotland, stressed that the public can help by staying alert.
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