February 5, 2007

 

UK imposes farm access restrictions after bird flu outbreak

 

 

UK health officials on Sunday (Feb 4) announced new restrictions on movement near a commercial farm where the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was found in turkeys, while authorities culled thousands of birds to contain the outbreak.

 

About 2,500 turkeys died of the virus on the farm owned by Bernard Matthews PLC, Europe's largest turkey producer. It was the first time H5N1 has been found on a British farm.

 

As scientists worked to trace the source of the outbreak, Bernard Matthews said the first farm birds had died Tuesday. The State Veterinary Service said the cause initially was diagnosed as E. coli poisoning, but after more turkeys died, authorities were called Thursday and began tests for bird flu.

 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or DEFRA, said the virus found on the farm was the highly pathogenic Asian strain, similar to that found January in geese in Hungary--the first known bird flu outbreak within the EU since August 2006.

 

Government vets worked through the day to gas all 159,000 turkeys on the farm in Suffolk county, about 130 miles north-east of London. The carcasses were being transported in sealed trucks to a site in central England for incineration.

 

DEFRA announced new measures to control the movement of birds in areas surrounding the farm. A 2,090-square-kilometre restriction zone was set up in which all commercial birds must be isolated from wild birds and all movement of poultry must be licensed.

Closer to the farm, authorities implemented a 3-kilometre protection zone, to which access is restricted, and a 10-kilometre surveillance zone.

 

The restrictions, though "difficult for poultry farmers, will stop this disease from spreading," said Jill Korwin, assistant head of Trading Standards for Suffolk. "Poultry owners must keep their birds under cover."

 

The outbreak is the first known instance of H5N1 in the UK since an infected wild swan was found in Scotland in March. Turkeys and chickens are more susceptible to H5N1 than wild birds, who can carry the virus over long distances without showing symptoms.

 

The European Commission said EU food and animal health experts would discuss the outbreak on Tuesday and review UK measures to contain the disease.

 

Dr David Nabarro, senior UN system coordinator for bird flu and human flu, told The Associated Press that bird flu outbreaks would increase around the world, but said the virus was unlikely to spread from the affected farm in the UK.

 

"From what I picked up during the last three days, the UK government has instituted the proper precautions...This should mean that (it) won't spread out into other parts in the vicinity," he said in an interview in Indonesia, the country worst hit by bird flu.