Lab confirms first Swiss bird flu case was H5N1
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Laboratory tests have confirmed that a duck that died of bird flu last week in Geneva, Switzerland’s first case, had the H5N1 strain, the Swiss Veterinary Office said on Wednesday.
The tests were carried out by the European reference laboratory in Britain, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, which announced the result on its website.
“VLA confirms highly pathogenic avian influenza of H5N1 subtype in a common merganser (a variety of duck) from Switzerland,” the laboratory said.
A spokeswoman for the Swiss Veterinary Office said it had been informed of the finding. Initial tests in Switzerland had shown it was an H5 virus.
Earlier on Wednesday, Switzerland announced its second case of H5 bird flu in a swan found dead close to the German border, but it will be another week before it is known whether it is the aggressive H5N1 form of the virus.
The swan was found close to the town of Kreuzlingen at the north-western corner of Lake Constance—also known as Bodensee—where two wild ducks have tested positive on the German side.
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