Possible case of bird flu in Finland

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

The Nordic country’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.

It was not immediately clear if 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.

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.