"H5N1 suspected in Rotterdam zoo"

H5N1 suspected in Rotterdam zoo

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Two young owls which died in a zoo in Rotterdam are suspected of having the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Dutch farm ministry said late on Saturday.

The Netherlands, Europe's second biggest poultry producer after France, has never reported a case of the highly pathogenic avian flu strain which is endemic in parts of Asia and has spread to birds in a number of European Union countries.

A ministry spokeswoman said further tests were being conducted, but it was suspected that the birds died of a highly pathogenic strain of the virus. Final test results are due in the coming days.

The H5N1 virus has spread rapidly from late 2003 from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The virus can occasionally infect people and has killed 138 people over the past three years, according to figures from the World Health Organisation.

No other dead birds have been found, and authorities are currently testing other birds in the zoological garden, most of which were vaccinated, the spokeswoman said.

The Netherlands found a low-pathogenic H7 bird flu strain at a farm earlier this month, prompting five countries to ban imports of Dutch poultry.

The Dutch suffered a devastating outbreak of an H7N7 avian flu strain in 2003 that led to the culling of about a third of the poultry flock, some 30 million birds.

Conflicting newsreports re. the outcome of investigations meanwhile. A source in English, based in Singapore, today says that the two dead, young owls were probably not infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu (click below link).
Yet  in the Dutch media some seem to say the opposite, whereas a majority of the approx. 51 online sources for today say that it's unclear what caused the sudden death of the two young birds. According to those reports the animals did carry the H5N1 virus, but it wasn't "active" anymore. And they also carried a different, bacterial virus. It's expected that final results of the investigation into their death will be presented later this week.





What I would like to know is how these forums work in view of posting direct links. Tried the "hyperlink" button, but I ended up in some kind of incomprehensible online HTTP library or something, that seemed of no use at all for posting a simple, clickable link.
So excuse me please for not posting any links to Dutch publications of today. But here are a few URLs.

http://www.nos.nl/nos/artikelen/2006/08/art000001C6C52EDEA70E67.html

http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article340489.ece/Vogelgriep_Blijdorp_waarschijnlijk_niet_verspreid

further  efforts to post links, the whole thing eating away far too much time...

<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/137714.asp> Two dead owls at Dutch Zoo probably not infected with bird flu

<a href="http://www.todayonline.com/articles/137714.asp">Two dead owls at Dutch Zoo probably not infected with bird flu</a>

http://www.google.com


http://www.todayonline.com/articles/137714.asp


I'll try to look up a Help Centre here.