British experts baffled by bird flu outbreak

Although more than 150,000 turkeys have been slaughtered at a farm in Suffolk in England in order to curb the spread of the deadly bird flu virus, officials remain baffled as to the source of the outbreak.

The British Government has confirmed that the virus is the same strain as was found last month in Hungary, where an outbreak among geese on a farm prompted the slaughter of thousands of birds.

The Government has extended restrictions on the movement of poultry to try to prevent the spread of the deadly bird flu, but at present the virus does appear to be confined to the one farm near the town of Lowestoft.

The company Bernard Matthews, which owns the farm in Suffolk also has the largest poultry farm in Hungary, where a series of outbreaks of the avian bird flu occurred last month.

According to the company the two ventures are not connected in any way other than in terms of ownership.

The company declares that all poultry at the UK farm is British and they operate under high biosafety standards and the fact that they have a Hungarian operation is immaterial.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) says no live birds had been imported from Hungary in the past year, but would not comment on the suggestion that some eggs may have been imported.

DEFRA says Bernard Matthews is entitled to compensation under the Animal Health Act 1981 for all healthy birds slaughtered to control diseases, including avian flu, to the value of each bird just before slaughter as well as for any eggs destroyed.

The Government says they are closely monitoring the public health situation and preparations are in hand in the event of a pandemic.

The Department of Health has stockpiled enough of the antiviral Tamiflu to vaccinate a quarter of the population.

A number theories are being considered by DEFRA regarding the origin of the disease, one being that it was introduced by workers who had accidentally stepped in bird faeces and brought it into the works; but this does not tie in with the company's apparently stringent biosafety rules.

However United Nations officials say they are not surprised by the outbreak and have been expecting the virus to spread during the colder winter months as it did last year.

Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations bird flu envoy says Europe should be ready for more outbreaks and he suspects the poultry could have been infected by wild birds, which can carry the virus without becoming sick.

Nabarro says insulating a bird farm from wild birds in the vicinity is incredibly difficult.

Nevertheless despite the alarm it must be remembered that the H5N1 virus remains primarily a disease of birds and is quite hard for humans to catch.

Almost all human cases have been the result of direct contact with infected birds.

According to the World Health Organisation the virus has to date killed 165 people since 2003, infected a total of 271 and been responsible for the deaths one way or another of millions of birds.

The latest death of a 22-year-old Nigerian woman is the first known human fatality from the H5N1 virus in sub-Saharan Africa and was to be expected as the virus is present on a large scale in the poultry population there despite vigorous attempts by the Nigerian Government to bring the infection in the poultry under control.

The virus has now spread to 17 of Nigeria's 36 states over the past year despite culling, quarantine and bans on transporting live poultry.

Experts continue to worry that the virus will mutate into a form that is easily passed between people, triggering a worldwide pandemic.

Flu experts are particularly concerned at the resurgence of the virus in Japan, South Korea and Thailand where it had been eradicated.

Japan has had four outbreaks of the H5N1 virus at poultry farms this year.

The latest panic in the UK has prompted some intellectuals and campaigners to call for the elimination of large-scale intensive livestock farming which they say accelerates the development of new pandemic diseases.