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A health worker supervises the loading of killed poultry onto a truck on a chicken farm where poultry were tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus in Wermsdorf, Germany, on Thursday, April 6, 2006. (AP)
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H5N1 was detected in a swan found in Cellardyke, more than 450 miles north of London, said Scotland's chief veterinary officer, Charles Milne.
The case is Britain's first confirmation of H5N1 in a wild bird. The deadly virus has not been found in domestic British poultry.
Twelve swans and two other wild birds also were being tested, Milne told a news conference. He said there was "no indication that any of these are positive" yet.
Among them are two swans found dead in the Scottish city of Glasgow, 400 miles north of London, the city's council said.
In other developments:
British government officials have restricted the movement of poultry and implemented a 965-square-mile "wild bird risk area" around the discovery site in which poultry farmers will be required to bring their flocks indoors, Milne said.
About 260,000 birds will be moved. Wildlife officials will increase surveillance of wild birds, he said. Milne said there would be no mass vaccination of farmed birds to protect them against HN51.
However, officials have ruled out a nationwide policy to keep all poultry and other domestic birds indoors, a spokesman for Scotland's parliament said on customary condition of anonymity.
The government's crisis committee met earlier to discuss how to implement contingency plans, Britain's Cabinet Office said.
National Farmers' Union president Peter Kendall urged the public to continue eating poultry. "There are no implications for public health or consumers," he said.
The deadly H5N1 virus has infected millions of birds and has killed more than 100 people worldwide, mostly in Asia, since 2003.
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