Sally Furniss
Well-known member
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="640"> <tbody><tr><td>
</td><td height="1" valign="top"> Bird flu hits western Europe
John Hooper in Rome
Sunday February 12, 2006
The Observer
Bird flu has reached western Europe for the first time, it was announced yesterday, as three new countries reported wild birds infected with the H5N1 strain.Italy's health minister, Francesco Storace, said that tests carried out on swans found dead in Sicily and the south of mainland Italy showed that the birds had the deadly variant, as did three migratory swans found dead at Thessaloniki, the Greek government confirmed.
Speaking after a press conference in Rome, Storace said: 'Of the 17 dead swans, the majority [of deaths] were as a result of H5N1. But that does not mean all [were].' He said he was awaiting further test results from a government-run laboratory in Padua.
<!-- This site/section combo is not set up to show MPU's -->In Taranto, Puglia, a bird died of one of the most virulent varieties of the disease. 'The virus has got to Italy,' Storace said. But he appealed to the public not to panic or to stop eating chicken. 'Chicken has nothing to do with it,' he said.
Concern over bird flu has taken a heavy toll on Italy's poultry sector as the virus has edged westwards. Yesterday a spokesman for one of the country's largest agricultural co-operatives said that it had already caused 30,000 lay-offs and a loss of sales amounting to ?550m.
Storace said the remaining swans were discovered dead or sick on Sicily near Catania, Messina and Syracuse.
'The migratory routes from the south appear to have moved towards Italy because of exceptional cold in the Balkan region,' he added. 'We can be relatively calm about human health but there are reasons to be concerned about veterinary health.'
A spokesman for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: 'These latest cases of swans being infected with bird flu does not affect our assessments of the risks to the UK. The swans' migratory routes do not come through this country.'
Bird flu was also confirmed in wild swans found dead in Bulgaria. They had died of the H5N1 virus. 'The disease was detected in wild swans in the Bulgarian wetland region of Vidin, close to the Romanian border,' the European Commission said in a statement.
In Bucharest, Romanian officials said yesterday that new cases had been found in fowl in the Danube delta, Europe's biggest wetland.
H5N1 has killed at least 88 people in Asia and the Middle East and prompted the slaughter of millions of birds since 2003. But all the human deaths so far are thought to have been caused by direct contact between the victims and infected birds.
The virus is not known to have mutated into a form that could be spread from person to person. If it were to do so, experts have warned, it could spark a global pandemic.
The focus of attention had earlier switched to Africa after the discovery of the virus in Nigeria.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1707899,00.html
</td></tr></tbody> </table>
</td><td height="1" valign="top"> Bird flu hits western Europe
John Hooper in Rome
Sunday February 12, 2006
The Observer
Bird flu has reached western Europe for the first time, it was announced yesterday, as three new countries reported wild birds infected with the H5N1 strain.Italy's health minister, Francesco Storace, said that tests carried out on swans found dead in Sicily and the south of mainland Italy showed that the birds had the deadly variant, as did three migratory swans found dead at Thessaloniki, the Greek government confirmed.
Speaking after a press conference in Rome, Storace said: 'Of the 17 dead swans, the majority [of deaths] were as a result of H5N1. But that does not mean all [were].' He said he was awaiting further test results from a government-run laboratory in Padua.
<!-- This site/section combo is not set up to show MPU's -->In Taranto, Puglia, a bird died of one of the most virulent varieties of the disease. 'The virus has got to Italy,' Storace said. But he appealed to the public not to panic or to stop eating chicken. 'Chicken has nothing to do with it,' he said.
Concern over bird flu has taken a heavy toll on Italy's poultry sector as the virus has edged westwards. Yesterday a spokesman for one of the country's largest agricultural co-operatives said that it had already caused 30,000 lay-offs and a loss of sales amounting to ?550m.
Storace said the remaining swans were discovered dead or sick on Sicily near Catania, Messina and Syracuse.
'The migratory routes from the south appear to have moved towards Italy because of exceptional cold in the Balkan region,' he added. 'We can be relatively calm about human health but there are reasons to be concerned about veterinary health.'
A spokesman for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: 'These latest cases of swans being infected with bird flu does not affect our assessments of the risks to the UK. The swans' migratory routes do not come through this country.'
Bird flu was also confirmed in wild swans found dead in Bulgaria. They had died of the H5N1 virus. 'The disease was detected in wild swans in the Bulgarian wetland region of Vidin, close to the Romanian border,' the European Commission said in a statement.
In Bucharest, Romanian officials said yesterday that new cases had been found in fowl in the Danube delta, Europe's biggest wetland.
H5N1 has killed at least 88 people in Asia and the Middle East and prompted the slaughter of millions of birds since 2003. But all the human deaths so far are thought to have been caused by direct contact between the victims and infected birds.
The virus is not known to have mutated into a form that could be spread from person to person. If it were to do so, experts have warned, it could spark a global pandemic.
The focus of attention had earlier switched to Africa after the discovery of the virus in Nigeria.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1707899,00.html
</td></tr></tbody> </table>