OTTAWA -- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the virus responsible for an outbreak of avian influenza in British Columbia's Fraser Valley is an H5N2 virus.
The agency says testing at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases in Winnipeg, Manitoba, determined the neuraminidase type or the N in the virus's name.
It has been known for nearly two weeks that the virus was an H5 virus but it took until Feb. 3 for the agency to announce testing had determined the N type.
The agency says preliminary tests suggest the virus was a low pathogenic type of avian flu.
Approximately 60,000 turkeys on the affected farm have been euthanized and they are being composted in the barn at temperatures that should ensure any viruses are destroyed.
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The H5N2 virus is not related to the H5N1 avian flu virus that has been decimating poultry flocks and killing people in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and parts of Eastern Europe for the last five years.
It is, however, the same type of virus that caused an outbreak in the Fraser Valley in late 2005. More than 62,000 poultry had to be destroyed in that outbreak.
A total of 36 premises in the surrounding area remain under quarantine, either because they are located within 3 kilometers of the affected farm or because they were known to have contact with the farm when the virus might have been present.
They are being quarantined as a precautionary measure, the agency says.
To date, there have been no signs of any human infections with the virus.
