August 25, 2005

UK considers pig culling in fight against bird flu

The UK government has considered pig culling besides destroying poultry as the country prepared for a possible outbreak of bird flu, following the recent outbreaks in Russia.

Scientists had suspected that pigs could act as a mixing bowl for both the human and bird flu viruses, resulting in a deadly strain that could easily jump from human to human.

While measures for controlling a bird flu outbreak in poultry already existed, bird flu was not categorised as a porcine disease, which meant new regulations were needed to implement pig culling during such an outbreak.

Pigs were reportedly thought to be at greater risk of exposure to bird flu because of the increase in outdoor rearing and free range farming in the UK, allowing widespread contact with migratory birds that might be diseased.