Hong Kong confirms bird flu case
Posted: 13 January 2007 2327 hrs

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HONG KONG - A dead bird found in Hong Kong has tested positive for a milder strain of the bird flu virus, the city's health authorities said.

"Preliminary testing of a dead bird ... has indicated a suspected case of H5 avian influenza," a spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement.

Further tests are now being carried out on the carcass of the Crested Hoshawk, which was found by a member of the public, the statement added.

Hong Kong was the scene of the world's first reported major bird flu outbreak among humans in 1997, when six people died of a then unknown mutation of the avian flu virus. Millions of poultry were culled.

A renewed outbreak in 2003 among poultry flocks in Asia triggered a wave of infections worldwide.

The flu's H5N1 strain is potentially deadly to humans. Bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003. There are fears it could mutate and trigger a deadly human flu pandemic.

- AFP /ls