A DUCK shot in Scotland was suffering from a strain of bird flu, it emerged yesterday, amid growing fears of human cases of the virus in Turkey.

The mallard, shot in West Lothian in October, was tested in a UK-wide survey of hundreds of birds to check for the virus.

Out of 280 birds shot and tested, it was one of two to be infected with a strain of avian flu. However, the low-risk strain, known as H6N2, cannot spread to humans. A sheldrake was also found to be infected with a low-pathogen strain in England last year.

Scientists are on the alert for the virulent H5N1 strain spreading from Asia, where it has killed more than 70 people.

That strain has already come as far as Turkey, where it has infected 19 people and killed three children in confirmed cases.

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