Avian Flu in England
February 3, 2007
The strain of bird flu found in eastern England at the Bernard Matthews farm, one of Europe's largest turkey farms, was confirmed to be the deadly strain, which can be transmitted to humans, the EU's executive arm said in a statement.
"Samples from the infected establishment were immediately sent to the Community Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, which has this morning swiftly confirmed the disease to be the H5N1 strain of avian influenza," the statement said. "Further tests to characterize the virus are underway, in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain."
The British government is putting in place EU controls, which include creating a three-kilometer (1.8-mile) protection zone and 10-kilometer surveillance area, to quarantine the outbreak, the Commission added.
Europe's second case of 2007
Saturday's find was the second confirmed case of H5N1 in the 27-country bloc this year, after it was found in Hungary last week.
"All poultry farmers are in shock as we had no inkling that is had suddenly turned up in England," National Farmers' Union Poultry Board chairman Charles Bourns told the Reuters news service.
Government vets were called in to investigate the suspected outbreak after the death at the farm of more than 2,000 turkeys.
The Matthews food processing farm is reported to have some 160,000 turkeys housed in 22 sheds. So far only one of the sheds has been proven to be affected by the disease.
Since 2003, the strain is responsible for the deaths of at least 164 people, most of them in Asia. More than 200 million birds have died from the virus, or been killed to prevent it from spreading.
Unusual time of year for outbreak
The British outbreak is especially surprising as it comes in the winter, avian flu expert Colin Butter of the Institute of Animal Health said.
"(Winter's) not the time of year when we have a lot of bird migration," he told Reuters. "We would not expect this to happen in the middle of winter. If it was going to happen we would expect it to happen in spring.
"The next thing we need to know is if this is a primary or secondary case. If this is a secondary case it is much more serious. If this is the first case, or 'reference case' and we can stamp it out, the outbreak will be controlled."
Mass culling expected
Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, told BBC television that there would be a mass cull and said that emergency meetings were underway on how to handle the situation.
"There's enormous concern, both for the whole farming community, the producers of poultry in the United Kingdom, and making sure we get the message about how well this will be managed and controlled," he said.
"We're encouraging all farmers to be incredibly vigilant, look at their flocks carefully," Kendall added. "We do need to reassure consumers, however, that this is not an issue about safety of poultry. It's completely safe to eat."