Britains confirms parrot had deadly flu strain

The British Government has said a strain of bird flu that killed a parrot in quarantine is the H5N1 strain that can be lethal to humans.

Scientists determined that the parrot, imported from South America, died of the strain of avian flu that has killed more than 60 people in Asia, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement.

DEFRA said the closest match was a strain identified in ducks in China earlier this year.

"It is not so similar to the strains isolated from Romania and Turkey," the statement said.

DEFRA's chief vet, Debby Reynolds, said it seemed likely the parrot was infected with the flu virus while in the quarantine system, in a facility it was sharing with birds from Taiwan. She said tests were being conducted on Taiwanese birds that had died.

A spokeswoman for the department said the tests had not determined what killed the Taiwanese birds. She spoke on condition of anonymity, as is customary with British Government officials.

DEFRA said the parrot's death did not affect Britain's status as being avian flu-free, because it occurred in quarantine.

The department announced on Friday that the parrot, imported from Suriname in September, had died of bird flu earlier last week. It was Britain's first confirmed case of the disease since 1992.

However, it took several days to determine that the parrot died of the H5N1 strain, which has devastated poultry stocks across Asia and killed 60 people in the past two years, mostly poultry farmers directly infected by birds.

DEFRA has instructed quarantine officials not to release any birds they are holding until further inquiries are completed.

AP