Canadian officials denied the presence of the viral antibodies represented a systemic failure but nevertheless expressed regrets to Australian authorities.
In Jakarta, local tests on a hospitalized father and son proved negative for bird flu, a senior Health Ministry official said, calming fears prompted by the health minister that H5N1 might be spreading from human to human.
Reacting quickly to calm any panic, the WHO said such a scenario -- even if it had been true -- did not mean the virus was mutating into a form that jumps easily between people.
"It doesn't mean mutation," Georg Petersen, WHO's Indonesia representative, said.
All human deaths from avian flu have so far been in Asia but the deadly H5N1 strain was detected this month in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania. Further tests are being carried out in Europe on a bird from Greece.
Even as it marches westwards, tracking the flight paths of migratory birds, the virus is flaring up again in east and southeast Asia, the most likely epicenter of a human pandemic, according to the WHO.
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