Latest: The Return Of Bird Flu

Tests confirmed yesterday that a turkey at the farm in Redgrave near Diss had died from the H5 strain of bird flu. Further tests overnight are expected to reveal whether it had the especially dangerous H5N1 subtype which has killed millions of birds worldwide.

The affected farm is home to 5,000 turkeys and emergency protection zones have been set up around the site of the outbreak. If the disease spreads it is feared it could devastate the industry in the run-up to Christmas.

The farm is operated by Gressingham Foods. Operations director, Geoffrey Buchanan, said, “We believe the outbreak has been contained and that the measures are in place to allow us to continue to serve our customers. Turkey meat continues to be safe to eat.”

He also said that no Gressingham ducks - favoured by chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Delia Smith and Gary Rhodes - were reared at the site.

Movement of live birds is now restricted within a three kilometre protection zone and ten kilometre surveillance zone. However, there are fears that the outbreak could exacerbate an expected shortage of turkeys for Christmas. Last week, the industry warned that soaring feed costs could add £5 to the shop price of a typical bird.

Dr Fred Landeg, the deputy chief vet, stressed that there was no risk to humans from eating poultry meat and eggs as long as they were cooked properly. He added, “It is very difficult to transmit avian influenza from birds to human beings. There has to be fairly close contact with the birds and with their faeces.

“We will be looking at the movements on to the premises and off the premises of birds and movements of people, vehicles and things, to see whether there is another origin somewhere in the country or whether the disease could have spread.”

The disease was discovered on Sunday by a vet who noticed that there had been a growing number of turkey deaths in one of the five sheds on the Norfolk farm. The birds were free range - meaning they had access to the outdoors and were at greater risk of exposure to the wildfowl that visit an ornamental lake next door.

Officials at Defra, the food and farming department, think this is the most likely source of the disease which is spread through saliva and droppings.

Andre Farrar, of the RSPB, said it was premature to assume that the disease had spread to poultry from wild birds this time. “Last time people went on a mad whirl of speculation on how wild birds had moved the virus and it turned out not to be the case,” he said.

The revelation that bird flu is back is a devastating setback for farmers. This year they have already faced outbreaks of bird flu, foot and mouth disease and bluetongue.

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said, “We will be working closely with Defra to do all we can to contain and eradicate this disease as quickly as possible.

“Obviously this is another huge blow to the farming industry, which is still dealing with the effects of bluetongue and foot and mouth.”

There are more than a dozen strains of bird flu in the wild. The most virulent are H5 and H7, while the H5N1 subtype is the deadliest.

Many scientists believe that H5N1 could mutate into a new, deadly form of human flu. However, that is most likely to happen in Asia where people live in close contact with birds. The disease has killed 300 humans so far.

Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk