Czechs discover first bird flu outbreak in poultry

PRAGUE, June 20 (Reuters) Czech veterinary authorities today confirmed the country's first case of bird flu in poultry, the CTK news agency reported.

The agency quoted the state veterinary office as saying it would take until Friday to know if the case, found in a turkey, was the deadly H5N1 strain.

A state veterinary office spokesman could not immediately confirm the CTK report.

CTK said the flock of turkeys where the virus was found totaled around 6,000. It gave no further details.

The Czechs found several cases of the H5N1 strain in swans last spring, but have never recorded any cases in poultry.

The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts fear it could change into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world, killing millions.

So far, most human cases can be traced to direct or indirect contact with infected birds and hundreds of millions of birds have died or been culled.

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