Mildands incinerator on overtime for bird flu
Feb 5 2007
By Emma Brady, Health Correspondent
The Government is preparing "very seriously" for the remote possibility of a human flu pandemic as officials battle to contain the first avian outbreak in the UK.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt spoke out last night as experts continued to cull 159,000 turkeys at a farm in Suffolk, where the potentially deadly H5N1 strain has been discovered.
They were being transported to the John Pointon & Sons rendering plant in Cheddleton, near Leek, Staffordshire, for incineration.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the heating process destroyed the virus and any by-products would be safely buried at an undisclosed landfill site.
The risk to humans posed by Britain’s first outbreak of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu on a Bernard Matthews farm at Holton, near Halesworth, is "negligible", officials said. Experts played down fears that the highly pathogenic bird flu strain – which has caused the deaths of 164 people in Asia and the Middle East since January 2003 – could ultimately mutate to a type easily passed between people.
However, Ms Hewitt said: "We are preparing very, very seriously and thoroughly for the possibility of a pandemic flu.
"It is a very remote risk but if it did happen it could be very serious indeed."
She said the Department of Health had conducted a massive preparatory exercise last week, and that the NHS had its "normal stockpile" of masks for staff. The Government was considering whether it needed to order more.
The Department of Health has also stockpiled enough Tamiflu antivirals to cover a quarter of the population, as advised by scientists. Defra said workers at the Staffordshire plant and in Suffolk had been given Tamiflu vaccinations as "an extra layer of safety".
On Saturday, tests at the European Union laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey, confirmed the avian flu which killed more than 2,000 birds on the farm in Suffolk is the highly pathogenic Asian strain.
A Restriction Zone, in which poultry must be kept isolated from wild birds and movements must be licensed, covers 806 sq miles of east Suffolk and south east Norfolk.
It extends to the A47 just south of Norwich in the north, the A140 in the west, and almost to Felixstowe in the south.
The zone, which was introduced after consultation with ornithologists, is in addition to the 3km protection zone and the 10km surveillance zones already in place.
Turkeys first began falling ill on Tuesday, and by Thursday Defra had been informed and restrictions were in place around the farm.
Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer Fred Landeg said an investigation was under way to discover the source of the outbreak, whether there was another premises infected or if the disease came from wild birds.
"The countryside is not closed, the risks to the public are negligible," he said.
Former Home Secretary and MP for Norwich South, Charles Clarke, said the consequences for the local area could be "devastating", although he believed Defra had acted swiftly to contain the outbreak.
Defra surveillance of wild bird deaths is ongoing, and members of the public are being asked to report single deaths of ducks, geese and swans, or groups of ten or more dead birds of any one species in a single area.
Feb 5 2007
By Emma Brady, Health Correspondent
The Government is preparing "very seriously" for the remote possibility of a human flu pandemic as officials battle to contain the first avian outbreak in the UK.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt spoke out last night as experts continued to cull 159,000 turkeys at a farm in Suffolk, where the potentially deadly H5N1 strain has been discovered.
They were being transported to the John Pointon & Sons rendering plant in Cheddleton, near Leek, Staffordshire, for incineration.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the heating process destroyed the virus and any by-products would be safely buried at an undisclosed landfill site.
The risk to humans posed by Britain’s first outbreak of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu on a Bernard Matthews farm at Holton, near Halesworth, is "negligible", officials said. Experts played down fears that the highly pathogenic bird flu strain – which has caused the deaths of 164 people in Asia and the Middle East since January 2003 – could ultimately mutate to a type easily passed between people.
However, Ms Hewitt said: "We are preparing very, very seriously and thoroughly for the possibility of a pandemic flu.
"It is a very remote risk but if it did happen it could be very serious indeed."
She said the Department of Health had conducted a massive preparatory exercise last week, and that the NHS had its "normal stockpile" of masks for staff. The Government was considering whether it needed to order more.
The Department of Health has also stockpiled enough Tamiflu antivirals to cover a quarter of the population, as advised by scientists. Defra said workers at the Staffordshire plant and in Suffolk had been given Tamiflu vaccinations as "an extra layer of safety".
On Saturday, tests at the European Union laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey, confirmed the avian flu which killed more than 2,000 birds on the farm in Suffolk is the highly pathogenic Asian strain.
A Restriction Zone, in which poultry must be kept isolated from wild birds and movements must be licensed, covers 806 sq miles of east Suffolk and south east Norfolk.
It extends to the A47 just south of Norwich in the north, the A140 in the west, and almost to Felixstowe in the south.
The zone, which was introduced after consultation with ornithologists, is in addition to the 3km protection zone and the 10km surveillance zones already in place.
Turkeys first began falling ill on Tuesday, and by Thursday Defra had been informed and restrictions were in place around the farm.
Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer Fred Landeg said an investigation was under way to discover the source of the outbreak, whether there was another premises infected or if the disease came from wild birds.
"The countryside is not closed, the risks to the public are negligible," he said.
Former Home Secretary and MP for Norwich South, Charles Clarke, said the consequences for the local area could be "devastating", although he believed Defra had acted swiftly to contain the outbreak.
Defra surveillance of wild bird deaths is ongoing, and members of the public are being asked to report single deaths of ducks, geese and swans, or groups of ten or more dead birds of any one species in a single area.