Wild bird found dead with H5 in HK shopping district

HONG KONG, Jan 4 (Reuters) A wild bird found dead in a shopping district in Hong Kong has tested positive for H5 avian influenza and government experts said today it might have been infected by migratory birds flocking south.

''Preliminary tests show H5 but we will make further tests to confirm ... if it's H5N1,'' said a government spokesman.

The munia was found dead along with five others in Causeway Bay district on New Year's Eve, but the others tested negative.

''This is a local bird. It is possible that migratory birds, while stopping here, could have come into contact with our local birds and infected them,'' said Thomas Sit, assistant director of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

The H5N1 virus made its first known jump to humans in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six people. So far, it cannot be passed easily from human to human, but experts fear the virus could mutate and cause a pandemic, killing millions.

REUTERS DKA KN1557