The incident is referred to in one paragraph in the annual report on animal health by the government's chief veterinary officer, Debby Reynolds. The government insisted that it did not report the incident before because subsequent tests had not confirmed disease. It was "not unexpected" for free-range birds to be exposed to low-pathogenic viruses from wild birds, and they were the only suspect cases found among 5,000 blood samples taken on 438 poultry sites between September and the end of January this year.

Separate surveys involving more than 13,000 samples from live and dead wild birds, including 1,000 swans, between November and April, found only one case of highly pathogenic infection - the Cellardyke swan - and evidence of low pathogenic infection in five other birds, including low pathogen H5 in a teal.

These tests were different from those of poultry in that they detected virological material even though the virus itself could not be isolated in some cases.

Chris Huhne, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, is demanding more details on the incident after being alerted to the admission by the Guardian. He has tabled a parliamentary question asking if the government believes H5 viruses have been circulating in Britain for some time. "If antibodies show these birds were exposed to H5, how long before would that exposure have taken place? Is there a suggestion they had recovered from infection?"

Peter Ainsworth, bird flu spokesman for the Conservatives, said: "It is surprising the department didn't issue any public statement [that] they were imposing movement restrictions related to a suspected case of avian flu. It must raise questions about the openness of Defra's approach to handling bird flu last autumn."

John Oxford, professor of virology at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, found the incident "slightly disquieting" because it suggested the geese had been in contact with wild birds and picked up an H5 sub type from them.

Maria Ball, poultry adviser at the National Farmers' Union, said that if the NFU had been told at the time "we would have been making our own inquiries with regards to other farms in the area".

The incident occurred as Europe went on high alert against H5N1, with the virus spreading into Russia, Turkey and Romania. The NFU advised bird keepers to take their animals indoors.

Dr Reynolds' report says that samples from the unidentified premises tested positive for antibodies to H5N2 and H5N7 strains, prompting movement restrictions and a veterinary inquiry. "The geese were healthy. Further [tests] did not isolate avian influenza viruses ... it is likely the positive antibody result was due to previous exposure to low pathogenic avian [flu] viruses. It is not uncommon to find LPAI viruses in wild birds. These geese had a high level of exposure to wild birds."

A Defra spokesman later told the Guardian: "It was all routine." No birds had been killed, and restrictions had lasted just seven to 10 days.

A sixth person linked to the family in north Sumatra has also tested positive and is undergoing treatment.

The latest deaths from the H5N1 strain of the virus bring the official toll in Indonesia to 30, the second highest number after Vietnam, which has 42 deaths.

The north Sumatra outbreak has caused international concern, but Indonesian health authorities say it is not a case of human-to-human transmission.

Since late 2003, bird flu has killed 115 people, mostly in Asia.

Experts fear the virus may mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, sparking a pandemic.

MRSA, VRE and other bacteria that are resistant to commonly used antibiotics infect another 250,000 Canadians a year and cost the country's health-care systems at least $100 million annually, according to a CBC News investigation in 2005.

It's thought that part of the problem of drug resistance is that most antibiotics work in a similar way, which makes it easier for microbes to quickly adapt and fight back.

In the past 40 years, only two new classes of antibiotics that work in different ways have reached the clinic.

Patensimycin, the newly discovered antibiotic, also has a new mode of action, Wang's team says in a study published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

It blocks enzymes that bacteria use to make fatty acids - the building blocks of cell membranes and bacterial surfaces.

The researchers found it as they screened 250,000 extracts from microbes that produce antibiotics, says their study.

"Wang and colleagues' report of a compound representing a novel class of antibiotic with activity against Gram-positive bacterial pathogens is thus particularly exciting," said Eric Brown, a biochemistry professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.

Brown, who was writing in a commentary accompanying the study in Nature, said it was an "added bonus" that platensimycin was effective against superbugs.

The researchers showed that platensimycin fights bacterial infection in mice without apparent side-effects.

It would need to undergo extensive tests to show it works and is safe to use in humans.

Nevertheless, Brown called the findings "encouraging."

He also noted that it was heartening to hear that the discovery was made by workers at Merck, given that pharmaceutical companies have generally shifted their focus away from searching for new antibiotics in favour of work on chronic diseases.

"The municipal police can also be used if the municipalities give them the authority," he said Wednesday. "They are under their jurisdiction. They can certainly work in collaboration with the inspectors.

"And again, on this question of the tobacco law, such a majority of citizens want to exercise the right to be in a smoke-free environment that I see a positive implementation of the law," Couillard said.

One in four Quebec adults still smoking

The province's smoking rate has been in steady decline, according to Health Canada figures.

However, Quebec still has one of the highest smoking rates in Canada, with 23 per cent of all adults lighting up at least occasionally. The rate is 26 per cent for those aged 15 to 19, and soars to 38 per cent among Quebecers aged 20 to 24.

Louis Gauvin of the Quebec coalition for tobacco control says that last group was in its young teens when the Quebec government slashed cigarette taxes about a decade ago.

That's the group whose behaviour could be modified most by the upcoming smoking ban, Gauvin told CBC News Online in an interview Wednesday.

"Each smoking ban that occurs in a society has a direct impact on society, and particularly on young people," he said.

Gauvin is looking forward to a Quebec where non-smokers can go to restaurants and clubs and breathe more easily.

"Many people have told me, 'Well, I'm backing out. It's not an interesting time to me.' We know it's not good for our health."