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Increased bird flu surveillance to start soon
Posted at 1:01pm on 18 May 2006
Biosecurity New Zealand expects to start increased surveillance measures for bird flu in the next month.
It will start doing random blood tests on at-risk bird populations, starting with commercial poultry flocks and expanding the programme to include game birds and other wild birds.
New Zealand is required to boost its surveillance measures to meet more stringent international requirements to show that it remains free of a deadly avian flu strain that's spreading through Asia, Europe and Africa.
The authority's incursion and response leader, Ron Thornton, says currently, New Zealand does not comply with surveillance rules that the World Animal Health Organisation introduced a year ago.
Dr Thornton says most other countries are in the same position as New Zealand, and have yet to comply with the new bird flu surveillance requirements.
Posted at 1:01pm on 18 May 2006
Biosecurity New Zealand expects to start increased surveillance measures for bird flu in the next month.
It will start doing random blood tests on at-risk bird populations, starting with commercial poultry flocks and expanding the programme to include game birds and other wild birds.
New Zealand is required to boost its surveillance measures to meet more stringent international requirements to show that it remains free of a deadly avian flu strain that's spreading through Asia, Europe and Africa.
The authority's incursion and response leader, Ron Thornton, says currently, New Zealand does not comply with surveillance rules that the World Animal Health Organisation introduced a year ago.
Dr Thornton says most other countries are in the same position as New Zealand, and have yet to comply with the new bird flu surveillance requirements.
