News - TheStar.com - Avian flu scare closes 74 B.C. farms ? CBC

Seventy-four area farms around Chilliwack, B.C., have been quarantined as a precaution to protect against avian flu, CBC's The National reported Thursday.

The farms are all within a few kilometres of where a duck tested positive for the H5 strain of avian flu last week.

Tests in dictate that more birds have been infected than originally thought, CBC reported.

Avian flu has been confirmed on two B.C. farms but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has stressed that doesn't mean the situation is worsening.

The Canadian infections are different from the virulent outbreak among birds in Southeast Asia, which has been blamed for more than 60 deaths.

The H5 virus in British Columbia is a low pathogenic North American strain.

TheStar.com - Avian flu scare closes 74 B.C. farms ? CBC