Deadly bird flu virus found in Sweden

A deadly strain of bird flu has been found in wild birds in southern Sweden, authorities said today.

However, Agriculture Ministry spokesman Anders Gronvall would not confirm that the H5N1 strain had been detected, saying only that “it is the form people have died from, the kind we have feared.”

Gronvall said the virus had been found in two dead birds near Oskarshamn, about 150 miles south of Stockholm. It was the first known cases of a deadly strain in Sweden.

Authorities were to announce more details later today.