February 28, 2006

UK ready to up bird flu measures if necessary

Bird flu is a changing situation and the UK government is prepared to take action, if required, said Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Margaret Beckett on Monday Feb 27.

On the sidelines of the National Farmers Union conference, Beckett warned that poultry vaccinations could "mask the disease, reduce rather than prevent" infection.

She also said moving all poultry indoors would not guarantee that infection would be prevented.

Neighbouring France confirmed its first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in a commercial flock over the weekend, but so far no wild or commercial birds in the UK have been found with the strain.

The UK currently does not require poultry producers to keep commercial birds indoors nor has it begun vaccinating birds.

However the UK is giving commercial producers with 50 or more birds only one more day to register their flocks with the government. The registry has been set up to give the government a better handle on where flocks are kept should an outbreak occur.

While pleased with how the registry has gone so far, Beckett said there are still are a fairly large number of small hobby farms that are not required to register.

UK producers complained to Beckett that due to the reduced consumption of poultry in France, leftover surplus is spilling in the UK and is affecting the domestic market. Beckett said that she currently did not have any solutions for this problem.

Meanwhile, Irish authorities announced that it is testing a number of dead birds for the H5N1 bird flu virus, but said it expects a negative result.