The British government said Sunday that a strain of bird flu that killed a parrot in quarantine is the H5N1 strain that can be lethal to humans, The Associated Press reported. Scientists determined that the parrot, imported from South America, died of the strain of avian flu that has killed 61 people in Asia, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. H5N1 is easily transmitted between birds, but is hard for humans to contract. Experts are closely watching the disease, however, for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans and cause a pandemic that could kill millions. The H5N1 strain has recently been found in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania. DEFRA said the closest match was a strain identified in ducks in China earlier this year. «It is not so similar to the strains isolated from Romania and Turkey,» the statement said. The genetic makeup of the virus changes slightly as it spreads, and scientists use such test to track its migration across the world. DEFRA's chief vet, Debby Reynolds, said it seemed likely the parrot was infected with the flu virus while in the quarantine system, in a facility it was sharing with birds from Taiwan. She said tests were being conducted on Taiwanese birds that had died. --More 2225 Local Time 1925 GMT
