Danish lab to test 35 birds for bird flu

Thirty-five dead birds found in Denmark will be tested for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus that was found in northern Germany earlier this week, Danish officials said Thursday.

Photo: Danish lab to test 35 birds for bird flu

"We have received 32 dead swans, a duck, a seagull and a cormorant," said Mogens Madsen, head of the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research's testing lab. "They all will be tested and we expect the results to be ready Friday."

Germany's Agriculture Ministry announced Thursday that tests have confirmed two swans found dead in northern Germany earlier this week carried the H5N1 bird flu virus.

Those swans, found on the Baltic island of Ruegen, were first known cases of the deadly strain in Germany, which borders Denmark. Further tests were being conducted at the EU reference laboratory in Britain.

In Denmark, all but one of the dead fowl were found on Danish islands in the southeastern part of the country, just north of the Ruegen island. The cormorant was found in the Vejle fjord in western Denmark and was being tested as a precaution, said Madsen, reports the AP.

I.L.