BEIJING - Chinese scientists say they've found a deadly strain...

BEIJING - Chinese scientists say they've found a deadly strain of bird flu in pigs, adding to the number of species that can catch the disease from birds.

The discovery of the H5N1 strain was made by researchers at the Harbin Institute of Veterinary Medicine.

Chen Hualan, chief bird flu researcher at the Harbin laboratory, told a conference in Beijing that the lab had found a mild strain of bird flu in pigs, and had successfully infected mice with a more virulent strain of H5N1.


FROM AUG. 18, 2004: B.C. poultry industry given clean bill of health

"The fear always is that this will jump to mammals," she said, adding that "the mechanisms for the H5N1 virus to cross the species barrier and infect and kill mammals are still unknown."

Canada has taken precautions and posted quarantine officers at airports to keep an eye open for travellers from Asia who appear ill, said Dr. Frank Plummer, Canada's acting chief public health officer.

The deadly strain of bird flu has so far been found to be capable of spreading from poultry to people, not directly from one person to another. But health experts worry that it could mutate into a form that could be transmitted among humans.

Bird flu "is not very good at jumping from animals to humans at this point in time, but it can do so," said Dr. Julie Hall, a World Health Organization expert in Beijing. "It is very important that we prepare for that eventuality."

In Asia, avian flu destroyed whole flocks of birds and killed 27 people in Vietnam and Thailand this year. It wiped out British Columbia's poultry industry in the first half of 2004.