Suspected bird flu in Finland

FINNISH authorities said yesterday they had found a suspected case of bird flu in the north of the country.

Finland’s Agriculture Ministry said the case involved a gull near the city of Oulu, some 370 miles north of Helsinki. Final results of tests were expected in three weeks.

They said that it was unlikely that the strain of bird flu involved is the same as the one circulating in Asia and Russia, which scientists fear might spark a human pandemic.

However, if tests prove the flu to be the H5N1 strain ravaging the poultry industry in Asia, it would be the first recorded instance of the virus in Europe.