# 804
The announcement this afternoon that the bird deaths in Wales wasn't due to H5N1 is good news. Unfortunately, the officials aren't telling us what strain of bird flu caused these deaths.
Perhaps they simply don't know yet.
Bird flu found in Wales but not deadly H5N1
24/05/2007
LONDON (Reuters) - Authorities confirmed an outbreak of bird flu in Wales on Thursday, but said it was not the H5N1 strain, which is potentially deadly to humans and has caused scares in the past.
Christianne Glossop, the country's chief veterinarian, told a news conference that tests had shown it was another strain.
Earlier the Welsh assembly announced it was investigating a suspected bird disease outbreak at a farm in North Wales.
Britain has been on the watch for bird disease after Europe's biggest turkey producer Bernard Matthews was forced to destroy 160,000 turkeys because of a bird flu outbreak in England earlier this year.
UPDATE: The Guardian is carrying more details, and has reported the disease is of the H7N2 variety.
Bird flu case confirmed in N Wales
Press Association
Thursday May 24, 2007 2:28 PMA case of bird flu in north Wales has been confirmed by experts.
Doctor Christianne Glossop, Wales' Chief Veterinary Officer, said the strain is H7N2 low pathogenic avian influenza, which is different from the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain currently circulating in Asia.
Speaking at a press briefing at the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff, she said that chickens had been dying at the North Wales smallholding over the past two weeks.
Fifteen 22-week-old Rhode Island chickens were bought by the smallholding two weeks ago, bringing their total number of birds to 45 chickens and two geese.
H7N2 has been known to infect humans, but there are only 2 cases that I'm aware of over the past decade. Neither subject experienced severe illness, and both recovered.
One was in Virgina, in 2002, and another in NY state in 2003
