Sixth swan tests positive for H5N1 bird flu

A swan sits in the water next to footprints in the snow at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, Scotland, as snow fell in Britain for the first time this year, January 3, 2008.

LONDON (Reuters) - A sixth swan in southern England has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the farm ministry said on Saturday.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said in a statement that the swan was found in the same area as five previous cases.

"This is not unexpected and our enhanced surveillance of wild birds in the area is continuing including active patrols to look for dead wild birds," DEFRA said.

"There is currently no evidence to suggest widespread disease in the wild bird population and there remains no evidence of disease in domestic birds."

On January 10, the ministry said three wild swans in a bird sanctuary in Dorset had died from the virus.

Britain's first case of the strain was in a wild swan found dead in Cellardyke in Scotland in 2006 and there have since been outbreaks at poultry farms in eastern England, most recently in November 2007.

The virulent H5N1 strain has killed 221 people worldwide since 2003 and millions of birds have died from it or have been culled to prevent its spread.

(Reporting by John Joseph; editing by Andrew Dobbie)