Wild waterfowl carrying the H5 strain of avian flu virus have been found in Quebec and Manitoba -- but there's no reason to panic, officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Monday.
"Preliminary testing has identified H5 influenza in 28 samples from Quebec, and five from Manitoba," Jim Clark of the CFIA told a news conference.
However, he added, because there are nine different H5 subtypes, "the chance of it being H5N1 are likely fairly remote."
That strain is behind the avian flu problem growing in Asia, where more than 60 people have died of H5N1 infection picked up from poultry.
Clark noted that the virus does not appear to be killing the birds.
"The evidence we have observed strongly indicates that these healthy birds were not infected with the same virus that is currently present in Asia," he said.
Health officials in Winnipeg conducting tests on the H5-infected birds won't know whether they have H5N1 until mid-week.
When asked why with no danger yet, this information was being released, Clark responded: "To make sure there's no misinformation and no panic in the Canadian public."
He added that Canadian officials wanted to reassure trade partners, especially the United States, so they won't stop buying Canadian poultry.
"Some countries are very much risk-averse and will take advantage of the situation to sever ties," Clark said.
Viruses endemic
The birds, which are migratory, are believed to be among thousands that have been tested in Canada.
Even if the Canadian birds are carrying the H5N1 virus, it does not mean they are necessarily related to the viruses behind the poultry outbreaks in southeast Asia.
"It is important to clarify that the avian influenza virus is not new to wild birds," Clark said. "Experts worldwide know that this virus, in one form or another, has circulated among wild birds around the world for hundreds, or perhaps even for thousands of years."
Indeed, it's not the first time that avian viruses have been found in North America. For more than a decade, parts of Mexico suffered through an outbreak of the H5N2 avian flu in poultry operations.
And last year in Canada, testing revealed that the avian flu found on a goose and duck farm near Abbotsford, B.C. was not the H5 variety. Instead, the CFIA said that the 37,000 geese on the Fraser Valley Duck and Goose Ltd. farm were exposed to the H7N3 strain of avian influenza virus.
The outbreak caused no major human health problems, but forced the culling of some 16 million poultry.
So far, the outbreaks in Asia have infected 121 people in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.
With the strain crawling through Europe as migrating fowl fly westward, there are mounting fears that the virus could mutate into one that can easily spread among humans and thus prompt a global pandemic.
Earlier in the month, Australia lifted a ban on live bird imports from Canada, after officials in Ottawa provided compelling evidence proving the country was free of H5N1.
Australian officials announced the ban after three imported racing pigeons from Canada tested positive for bird flu antibodies. The pigeons, which were later destroyed, tested positive for bird flu antibodies while being held in quarantine in the southern city of Melbourne.
That means the three birds weren't infected with avian flu, but rather that they had fought off a previous infection.
Antibodies help strengthen the immune system and, unlike the viruses they fight, aren't infectious.
With a report from CTV's Roger Smith
