EU vets review bird flu defences
02-06-2007, 11h38
BRUSSELS (AFP)
EU veterinary experts were reviewing Europe's defences against deadly bird flu amid fears that it could spread across the 27-nation bloc after an outbreak of the virus in Britain.
British officials were to brief EU counterparts about the measures they have taken during a routine meeting in Brussels of food safety and veterinarian experts.
The outbreak of the virulent H5N1 strain on a British turkey farm came just weeks after the deadly virus was discovered on a goose farm in southeastern Hungary, in the first detection of the disease in the EU since August 2006.
The European Commission voiced satisfaction on Monday with British authorities' handling of the outbreak, which included the slaughter of about 160,000 turkeys to keep the virus from spreading.
Under EU rules adopted in February last year, authorities are supposed to set up a three-kilometre (1.8-mile) protection zone and 10-kilometre surveillance zone around the site of an outbreak.
Meanwhile, infected birds are supposed to be culled, other farmers are supposed to keep poultry indoors and strict movement controls are supposed to be put in place.
Despite the British measures to contain the virus, Britain was slapped with poultry import bans by Japan, Russia and Ukraine while France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have stepped up precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza can be transmitted to humans and has killed more than 160 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia.
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou stressed on Monday that although other outbreaks among birds were likely in the EU, a human pandemic was not about to sweep across the continent.
02-06-2007, 11h38
BRUSSELS (AFP)
EU veterinary experts were reviewing Europe's defences against deadly bird flu amid fears that it could spread across the 27-nation bloc after an outbreak of the virus in Britain.
British officials were to brief EU counterparts about the measures they have taken during a routine meeting in Brussels of food safety and veterinarian experts.
The outbreak of the virulent H5N1 strain on a British turkey farm came just weeks after the deadly virus was discovered on a goose farm in southeastern Hungary, in the first detection of the disease in the EU since August 2006.
The European Commission voiced satisfaction on Monday with British authorities' handling of the outbreak, which included the slaughter of about 160,000 turkeys to keep the virus from spreading.
Under EU rules adopted in February last year, authorities are supposed to set up a three-kilometre (1.8-mile) protection zone and 10-kilometre surveillance zone around the site of an outbreak.
Meanwhile, infected birds are supposed to be culled, other farmers are supposed to keep poultry indoors and strict movement controls are supposed to be put in place.
Despite the British measures to contain the virus, Britain was slapped with poultry import bans by Japan, Russia and Ukraine while France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have stepped up precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza can be transmitted to humans and has killed more than 160 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia.
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou stressed on Monday that although other outbreaks among birds were likely in the EU, a human pandemic was not about to sweep across the continent.