Key Bird Flu Developments- Feb 22/06

BBC NEWS | UK | Bird flu preparations criticised
 
   
             Last Updated: Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 02:24 GMT 

             Bird flu preparations criticised
                   
                   Poultry farmers have been told they may have to move their
                   birds inside
             The government is wrong not to have supplies of the bird flu vaccine
             to use on poultry flocks in the event of an outbreak, a campaign
             group has said.
             Soil Association director Patrick Holden accused the government of
             "a dereliction of duty" after it emerged it had no stocks and none
             on order.
             Ministers said this week the government does not favour vaccination
             as a method of dealing with bird flu.
             But Mr Holden said every available method must be used to fight the
             virus.
             When the first case of a wild bird infected with the highly virulent
             H5NI strain of bird flu was discovered in France at the weekend, the
             debate among British farmers about the merits of vaccination
             intensified.
             'Too limited'
             Government officials have argued vaccination was costly and labour
             intensive.
             They believe the current available vaccines are too limited and that
             vaccinated birds are still able to carry the disease.
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             And it was decided that culling would be the most effective way of
             controlling the disease.
             Mr Holden, who is director of the organic farmers' organisation,
             said that while he appreciates the complexities involved in
             vaccination, it was not excusable for the government to effectively
             ignore it.
             He said there were farmers with free range and organic flocks who
             would welcome it as part of an overall eradication strategy.
             The Conservative environment spokesman Peter Ainsworth said he was
             surprised at the government's decision.
             The H5N1 virus, which causes bird flu, does not pose a large-scale
             threat to humans, as it cannot pass easily from one person to
             another.
             Experts, however, fear the virus could mutate to gain this ability,
             and in its new form trigger a flu pandemic, potentially putting
             millions of human lives at risk.
             Poultry farmers have been told to prepare to move their birds inside
             in case avian flu hits the UK.
             While it was not inevitable the virus would arrive, the risk had
             increased, Tony Blair's spokesman said on Monday.
             There are an estimated 200 million birds on farms across the UK and
             between 10% and 15% are free range.
             Current British policy is that birds would be ordered inside only if
             the disease was found in the UK.
             EU officials are to hold a second day of talks in Brussels on
             Wednesday on whether to allow the vaccination of poultry to fight
             the spread of bird flu.
             France and the Netherlands want to start vaccination programmes, but
             Germany and other members are opposed.

    22 new cases of bird flu on German island Feb 21 2006

             icWales
             
             Tests have confirmed another 22 cases of bird flu on the northern
             German island of Ruegen.
             The report from the Friedrich-Loeffler institute brings the total
             number of cases of the deadly H5N1 virus found in wild birds in
             Germany to 103, primarily on Ruegen.
             A cull of poultry has been ordered in the area, and troops have been
             deployed to help clear away dead birds.
             So far, no domestic birds or humans have been diagnosed with the
             virus in Germany.
             

icWales - Bird flu reaches France
       

      Bird flu reaches France Feb 19 2006

             icWales
             
             The deadly H521 strain of bird flu moved a step closer to the UK
             after France confirmed its first case,
             The French Agriculture Ministry said the virus was detected in a
             dead wild duck found in the town of Joyeux, near Lyon, last weekend.

             It is the closest case to the UK so far of the lethal strain, which
             is responsible for the deaths of 91 people in Asia and Turkey.
             The announcement in France comes as the disease spreads throughout
             Europe.
             In Austria, authorities are ordering all poultry to be kept indoors
             following strong indications that a wild swan found dead in the
             capital Vienna would test positive for H5N1.

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             Germany announced another 28 wild birds had been found to have the
             deadly strain of bird flu, with hundreds more being tested.
             Greece, Italy and Slovenia have also notified outbreaks, and results
             are awaited on samples from Austria and Hungary sent to the EU's
             testing laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey.
             Outside Europe, India announced its first cases of H5N1 in chickens
             after 30,000 birds died in the past two weeks in Navapur,
             Maharashtra and some tested positive for the disease.
             The British Government has admitted it is likely bird flu would
             spread to the UK.
             While humans have so far only contracted the disease directly from
             birds, scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form easily passed
             between humans and spark a human flu pandemic.
             Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw tried to reassure the public
             that the discovery of the disease in wild birds would not damage the
             poultry industry, or see a repeat of the Foot and Mouth disease
             disaster.
             He said: "Most of our big poultry organisations and businesses are
             very careful about disease spreading. They have very strict rules
             about who comes on and off and they have, I think, very good
             contingency plans.
             "Most of the international organisations think that we do have a
             good contingency plan, but vigilance and quick reaction is the most
             important thing in the case of any outbreak.
             "It's very different from Foot and Mouth. Avian flu is not nearly as
             virulent, it doesn't spread on the air like Foot and Mouth, it's
             only spread through contact with bird faeces and our poultry
             industry is not as concentrated as parts of the dairy industry in
             parts of the North West and South West.
             "So the likelihood of it spreading in that way is not as high as it
             was for Foot and Mouth," he told BBC News 24.
             The Government has drawn up plans to set up one-mile exclusion zones
             if a wild bird is found to be infected with the deadly strain.
             Inside the zone, all poultry movements would be halted, and if any
             poultry was found to be infected the entire flock would face being
             culled.
             In France, where 200,000 farms raise 900 million birds a year, all
             poultry has been ordered inside or vaccinated in a bid to prevent
             the spread from wild birds to fowl.