Bird flu reported on France turkey farm

PARIS --France confirmed cases of bird flu on a turkey farm, but it was not immediately clear whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain, the agriculture minister said Friday.

The turkeys were found to have the H5 virus, but more tests were needed to determine if was the H5N1 strain, Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau. It would be the first time the strain had spread to poultry stocks in France -- the EU's largest poultry producer.

Scientists fear the deadly strain, which has spread to 10 European countries, could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted between humans, sparking a pandemic.

On Thursday, authorities sealed off a farm with more than 11,000 turkeys in the southeastern Ain region, the same area where the deadly strain was found in two wild ducks.