The avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at a Suffolk farm has been confirmed as the H5N1 virus. That strain can be fatal if it is passed on to humans but experts said the outbreak was being contained and posed little danger to people.

 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the European Commission carried out virus tests at laboratories in Weybridge, Surrey. The 159,000 other turkeys on the farm will now have to be slaughtered. A three-kilometre protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone will be set up around Holton, which is approximately 27km south-west of Lowestoft. In addition Defra has revoked the national general licence on bird gatherings and bird shows and pigeon racing will not be permitted.

 

A Defra statement said: "Further tests to characterise the virus are under way in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain."

 

The H5N1 strain of the virus has infected 270 people, and killed 164 worldwide - most in south east Asia - since 2003. However, the virus cannot pass from human to human at present. So far, all those who have been infected worldwide have come into intimate contact with infected birds. Fred Landeg, Britain's Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, told BBC News that vaccinations for poultry were not currently being considered. "There are a number of problems with vaccination in that it takes about three weeks to get immunity."

 

Mr Landeg also spoke at a Defra press briefing, where he added that "No birds have moved off and no product has moved off and that this was a recent introduction [of bird flu]."

 

Dr Maria Zambon, from the Health Protection Agency, said farm workers who had come into contact with infected birds, and those involved in the culling process, would be offered the anti-viral drug tamiflu as a precaution. She stressed that nobody had developed symptoms of bird flu following similar outbreaks among farm birds in continental Europe.

 

Vets were called to the Bernard Matthews farm on Thursday night. A company statement said: "It is important to stress that none of the affected birds have entered the food chain and there is no risk to consumers."

 

National Farmers Union president Peter Kendall told BBC News 24 the priority would be eradicating the outbreak. "[We will be] making sure we get the message across about how well this will be managed and controlled. We're encouraging all farmers to be incredibly vigilant, look at their flocks carefully and we do need to reassure consumers that this is not an issue about the safety of poultry - it's completely safe to eat."

 

Professor John Oxford, a virologist at the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, said he was confident the outbreak could be contained. He said: "I don't think it has made any difference as a threat to the human population. The most likely explanation is that a small bird has come in through a ventilation shaft. One good thing about this virus is that it's easily destroyed. You can kill it with a bit of detergent."

 

Dr Oxford also said that while four strains of the H5N1 virus have been identified so far, all are deadly to birds and show potential of being harmful to humans. He said that identifying the particular strain found in Suffolk will help scientists work out how the disease is moving around the world. In May last year, more than 50,000 chickens were culled after an outbreak of the H7 bird flu in farms in the neighbouring county of Norfolk.

 

One member of staff at the farm contracted the disease and was treated for an eye infection. In March 2006, a wild swan found dead in Cellardyke, Fife, was found to have the H5N1 strain of the virus.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/6327193.stm

Run for the hills, shoot all the birds, we're all going to die!!!

 

O Really?

Vets working to contain bird flu

 

Government vets have been working through the night at a poultry farm in Suffolk to contain an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

A cull of nearly 160,000 turkeys has begun at the plant near Lowestoft.

 

The virus can be fatal if passed on to humans but experts said the outbreak posed little danger to people's health.

 

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has imposed controls on the movement of poultry flocks near the Bernard Matthews site.

 

A three-kilometre protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone have now been set up around Holton, which is approximately 27km south-west of Lowestoft.

 

A much wider restricted zone covering 2,090 sq km is bordered by the A140 to the west and the A47 to the north and almost to Felixstowe in the south.

 

Defra said experts had spent the night gassing birds at the farm.

 

A spokeswoman said the carcasses of gassed birds were being transported in "sealed, leak-proof lorries, fully covered with tarpaulin" for destruction at a Staffordshire plant.

 

Farmers in the restricted area have been told to keep their flocks isolated from wild birds and any movements licensed.

 

The avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at the farm in Suffolk has been confirmed as the Asian strain of the H5N1 virus.

 

It is the first case on a UK commercial farm.

 

The setting up of the restriction zone is a precautionary measure to control the spread of the disease.

 

The United Nations' Co-ordinator for bird flu, David Nabarro, has said farmers will have to get used to the presence of the disease in the UK as it is "going to be in bird populations for several years to come".

 

He said: "The way in which we'll deal with it is by implementing the well-rehearsed plan, which is to stamp it out at source. We've got to learn to accept that, not see it as a serious problem and just get on with normal poultry-rearing and consumption."

 

Health Protection Agency chief executive Professor Pat Troop stressed that the virus "doesn't pass easily from bird to human" and the risk to the general population from the outbreak was "very, very low".

 

Asked about stocks of Tamiflu - a vaccine used to protect against H5N1 - she said Britain was "very well prepared".

 

The strain has killed 164 people worldwide - mainly in south-east Asia - since 2003.

 

However, the virus is not thought to be able to pass easily from human to human at present.

 

So far, all those who have been infected worldwide have come into close contact with infected birds.

 

The government department earlier said the flu was the "highly pathogenic" Asian strain, similar to a virus that was found in Hungary in January.

 

Kitchen hygiene

 

In that incident, the first time bird flu had occurred in the European Union since August 2006, a flock of 3,000 geese was killed.

 

A spokesman for the Bernard Matthews company, which runs the farm in Holton, said none of the affected birds had entered the food chain and there was no risk to public health.

 

Professor John Oxford, a virologist at the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, addressed fears about the safety of eating poultry.

 

He told BBC News people need to wash their hands when handling raw meat to "get the hygiene level in the kitchen high".

 

Prof Oxford said that once the meat had come out of the oven it would be "perfectly safe - 100%".

 

Fred Landeg, Britain's Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, said an investigation was under way but the most likely source of the outbreak was wild birds.

 

In May last year, more than 50,000 chickens were culled after an outbreak of the H7 bird flu in farms in the neighbouring county of Norfolk.

 

One member of staff at the farm contracted the disease and was treated for an eye infection.

 

In March 2006, a wild swan found dead in Cellardyke, Fife, was found to have the H5N1 strain of the virus.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6328889.stm