(FROM SRN NEWS/REUTERS/AP)
*Britain said on Sunday it had confirmed a strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus in commercial poultry at premises near the town of St Ives in southwest England. All poultry on the premises will be humanely culled, and a 3 km protection zone and 10 km surveillance zone have been put in place, the UK government added in a statement. It was the first confirmation of the HPAI H5N1 strain in kept birds this season and followed recent detections of HPAI H5N5 in wild birds in southwest England and continental Europe, it added.
*The CDC confirms a highly pathogenic form of bird flu in a person in Oregon. The infected person is linked to a previously reported outbreak tied to a commercial poultry operation in the state, where the virus has been confirmed in 150,000 birds, the state health authority said. A total of 52 people from eight states have tested positive in the U.S. this year as the virus has infected poultry flocks and spread to more than 500 dairy herds, the CDC said. All the cases were farm workers who had known contact with infected animals, except for one person in Missouri.
*Health officials in Canada have confirmed bird flu in a British Columbia teen and said the virus was related to a poultry outbreak in the province. Initial testing had indicated the teenager’s infection was from bird flu and was confirmed in further testing, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement. The teen has been hospitalized in Vancouver since November 8 and was reported in critical condition Tuesday. It’s not clear how the teenager picked up the virus, which has been detected recently in wild birds and poultry in the province, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, said Tuesday. The teen is not known to have any contact with infected animals, she said. Henry said the teen was healthy before developing symptoms more than a week ago — initially eye redness, cough and fever.