02.11.2011

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed a low pathogenicity H7 avian influenza virus in wild birds in central and western Canada.

The birds were sampled through Canada’s Inter-Agency Wild Bird Influenza Survey, which serves as an early warning system designed to detect avian influenza viruses circulating in the wild that could be transmitted to domestic poultry.

The low pathogenicity H7 virus was identified in healthy live mallards sampled in Manitoba and Saskatchewan during the fall migratory season in the course of regular testing for the Inter-Agency Wild Bird Survey.