The European Commission has confirmed that the bird flu virus detected at a turkey farm in eastern England was the virulent H5N1 strain. The European Union's reference laboratory in England had confirmed the deadly strain, which can be transmitted to humans, the EU's executive arm said in a statement Saturday.
"Samples from the infected establishment were immediately sent to the Community Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, which has this morning swiftly confirmed the disease to be the H5N1 strain of avian influenza," the statement said.
"Further tests to characterise the virus are underway, in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain."
British officials announced on Friday that they had detected the H5 strain of the virus at a farm run by food processing company Bernard Matthews in Holton, Suffolk.
