LONDON, April 11 (UPI) -- British officials said a dead swan infected with bird flu found on a beach in Scotland may have been infected elsewhere and washed ashore.
Government officials told the BBC early test results suggested the swan found at Cellardyke last week had an almost identical strain of the H5N1 virus to birds found in Germany.
A Royal Society for the Protection of Birds spokesman Andre Farrar said the news was encouraging.
"It does build on the fact that we've seen no more positive results in the few days after the discovery of the first swan," he told the BBC.
A 6-mile surveillance zone and 1.8-mile protection zone around Cellardyke will remain for at least 30 days from the day the swan was found, the report said.
The H5N1 virus has caused more than 100 deaths in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, all by contact with infected birds.
Scientists are concerned the virus could mutate and become transmissible among humans, creating a possible pandemic.
