April 7, 2006

 

Britain confirms first case of bird flu

 

 

Tests on Thursday (Apr 6) confirmed that a wild swan found dead in Scotland had the H5N1 strain of bird flu--Britain's first case of the disease, government officials said.

 

Authorities have set up a 3 km protection zone where the bird was found. A further 10km surveillance zone is in force.

 

Britain is the 14th country in the European Union to be hit by the virus.

 

Meanwhile in other parts of Europe, Denmark said six more birds have tested positive for highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, bringing the total to nine.

 

In March, France discovered an outbreak of H5N1 at a farm in its region of Ain. The case was the first time the virus had spread to domestic farm birds in the European Union.

 

H5N1 has been found in the eastern German state of Saxony in domestic fowl for the first time in Germany. A restricted zone with a radius of 3 km was established, along with a larger observation area.

 

Italian poultry producers said demand for chicken meat had plummeted by 70 percent since H5N1 virus had been found in swans in the south of the country.

 

Netherlands--The Netherlands launched voluntary vaccination in March for its 1-3 million backyard poultry and about 5 million free-range poultry. Many Dutch farmers have chosen not to vaccinate their poultry as they fear a negative effect on exports

 

Several new centres of H5 bird flu were uncovered in Poland. Poland confirmed earlier in March that swans found in the northern city of Torun had been infected with H5N1.

 

In eastern and central Europe, Turkey has reported no new cases of bird flu among humans since Jan 13. Authorities have culled at least 2.3 million poultry across the country.

 

Hungary said it had become the first country to produce a vaccine in industrial quantities to protect people against H5N1 after domestic drug producer Omninvest received a distribution licence for a vaccine it developed.

 

Greece confirmed 32 cases in swans and geese. There are no cases in domestic farm poultry.

 

Ukraine has tested several vaccines but has taken no decision on mass vaccination of poultry. More than 200,000 birds have been destroyed in Ukraine since H5N1 was discovered last year.

 

Russia has said it planned to tighten border controls. It also started a mass vaccination campaign in March. 1.34 million birds have been culled since the latest wave of the virus in February.