By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Friday confirmed that a domestic goose that died in western Prince Edward Island earlier this week tested positive for an H5 avian flu virus.
Dr. Jim Clark, CFIA's director of animal health, said at this point there is no indication this virus is the virulent Asian H5N1 that has killed hundreds of millions of poultry - and more than 100 people - around the world.
In fact, there is no evidence as yet that the avian flu played a role in the death of the geese.
Samples are being sent to CFIA's National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases in Winnipeg so that confirmatory tests can be run and the neuraminidase (the N in the flu virus's name) can be determined.