10.11.2005

Experts on Thursday sought to ease alarm over the detection of avian influenza in a wild duck, saying the strain of virus was much weaker than that found in Asia and posed no threat to public health .
"Although the codename is the same one used to denote the Asian virus, the form here is completely different," said experts at the avian influenza testing lab in Lagnaro near Padua .
On Wednesday, the lab said that a migratory wild duck (mallard) had tested positive for H5N1.
The mallard was killed by a hunter in the Modena province 20 days ago.
But the lab stressed on Thursday that "this strain has a lower pathogenic level and is therefore less aggressive than the Asian form. Its presence in European water fowl is normal".
It said the strain found in the wild duck was closely related to other weak forms of H5 bird virus that have long been present in migratory birds in Europe, particularly in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands .
"This does not change the current situation in Italy as regards to avian influenza," the lab concluded .
Professor Donato Greco, the head of the Health Ministry's centre for disease control, also said that "this is a far less virulent strain of avian influenza virus and one which has nothing to do with the one circulating in the Far East." .
But Italy's anti-hunting lobby immediately called for a ban on wild bird hunting .
(ANSA). [ to the best of our knowledge, the H5N1 is not common in wild birds in Europe - NE]