Bird flu found in parrot in Britain

According to the agriculture ministry in Britain, a parrot has died in quarantine and has been found to have the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Confirmation of the presence of the "the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus" in the parrot by scientists, has been made by a ministry spokeswoman.

The ministry spokeswoman says it is the closest match is to a strain found in ducks in China earlier this year.

The ministry says the parrot, was imported from Suriname, South America, as part of a mixed consignment of 148 birds that arrived on September 16. They were held with another consignment of 216 birds from Taiwan.

All the birds were culled while in quarantine.

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries since breaking out in late 2003 in South Korea.

It has also reached Russia, Turkey and Romania, by way of the paths of migratory birds.

Because it can in some cases transfer to humans, H5N1 has triggered widespread concern, although only if they have had prolonged and close contact with infected birds, and some experts fear it could mutate to transfer between humans.

Leading microbiologist Hugh Pennington, says that as the infected parrot was discovered in quarantine that bird flu posed no risk to human health in Britain at present and the case should be simple to tackle.