Buzzard confirmed with bird flu in Hong Kong: officials

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

HONG KONG (AFP) — A common buzzard found dead in Hong Kong has tested positive for the deadly bird flu virus, officials said Friday.

Laboratory tests confirmed the bird, found on rural Lantau Island on Monday, was infected with the H5N1 strain, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said.

A spokesman reminded people to avoid contact with poultry or wild birds.

The common buzzard is a winter visitor to Hong Kong. Migratory birds have been blamed for the global spread of the disease which has killed at least 209 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003.

Hong Kong was the scene of the world's first reported major bird flu outbreak among humans in 1997, when six people died.

World Health Organisation experts say a...