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British Bird Flu May Have Come From Hungary


British authorities say the bird flu strain found in turkeys on a farm in eastern England may be identical to a strain that killed wild geese in Hungary.

Investigators said Thursday partially-processed poultry exported from Hungary may have brought the H5N1 virus to the British farm.

The virus was found last week on a farm northeast of London run by the Bernard Matthews company - Europe's largest turkey producer.

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities Thursday confirmed a bird flu outbreak in poultry in the village of Bogazkoy, in Batman province. They have set up a quarantine around Bogazkoy and nearby villages. Bird flu killed four people in the region last year.

Also Thursday, Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called his country's measures to fight bird flu insufficient. He said the situation is alarming after an outbreak was reported in southern Russia earlier this week.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Agency urged Thursday that cats be kept inside on farms and other areas where bird flu has been reported. The agency says cats can catch the virus from eating dead birds. But the agency says there are no cases of cat-to-human transmission, and it recommended against killing cats.

Bird flu has killed 166 people since 2003, mostly in Asia.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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