February 6, 2007

Health officials probe UK, Hungary bird flu link
 

The poultry company at the centre of the UK bird flu outbreak has admitted that lorries from Hungary had made regular visits to its Holton plant, where almost 160,000 turkeys have been culled after the discovery of the H5N1 strain there, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

Government vets are urgently investigating possible links between the Bernard Matthews PLC firm and the H5N1 virus outbreak on a goose farm in Hungary 10 days ago. Experts have confirmed the strain of the virus in the UK is almost identical to that in Hungary.

Transmission of the disease via the droppings of a wild bird is still considered the most likely source of the infection, but a possible link through the movement of human beings from Hungary is being investigated.

Meanwhile, two more Indonesians have been sickened with the bird flu virus, the country's health ministry said Tuesday. This raised Indonesia's confirmed human cases to 83, of which 63 have been fatal - the highest death toll in the world.

A 15-year-old girl from Jakarta contracted the virus after contact with a sick bird, said Muhammad Nadirin of the National Bird Flu Information Centre.

The girl first showed symptoms on Jan 31. She is in hospital in "relatively good" condition, Nadirin said.

A 35-year old man from West Java province was also in intensive care with the virus, he said.

Bird flu has killed or prompted the culling of millions of birds worldwide since late 2003, when it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks. It has killed at least 164 people worldwide, but remains difficult for humans to catch.