sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
No evidence bird flu spreading
Vets investigating the outbreak of bird flu in Norfolk say there is no evidence the disease has spread.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has now introduced a 3km surveillance area around the farms.
The new restriction is outside of the 1km zone put in place after the H7 strain of avian flu was found on three farms in North Tuddenham last week.
Tens of thousands of birds had to be culled in the outbreak.
Vets have confirmed that it was a low pathogenic form, and that no further outbreaks had been reported.
Officials are now trying to find out where the virus came from, and so are carrying out targeted surveillance work in the area.
They are visiting farms and making clinical assessments, and should report their findings in several days' time.
Thousands of birds were culled after the H7N3 strain was discovered on three farms.
Anti-viral drugs
The chickens at Norwich Road Farm and Mowles Manor Poultry Unit at North Tuddenham were slaughtered after tests showed they had the H7N3 strain.
On Sunday morning workers moved in to begin the cull of about 15,000 birds.
A cull of 35,000 chickens at the nearby Witford Lodge Farm, where the latest outbreak started, ended on Saturday.
So far only one poultry worker has contracted the H7 strain of bird flu in the form of conjunctivitis.
Three other workers have tested negative for the disease.
A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said about 60 people, including poultry workers and members of the State Veterinary Service, had been given anti-viral drugs to prevent them getting ill.
Vets investigating the outbreak of bird flu in Norfolk say there is no evidence the disease has spread.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has now introduced a 3km surveillance area around the farms.
The new restriction is outside of the 1km zone put in place after the H7 strain of avian flu was found on three farms in North Tuddenham last week.
Tens of thousands of birds had to be culled in the outbreak.
Vets have confirmed that it was a low pathogenic form, and that no further outbreaks had been reported.
Officials are now trying to find out where the virus came from, and so are carrying out targeted surveillance work in the area.
They are visiting farms and making clinical assessments, and should report their findings in several days' time.
Thousands of birds were culled after the H7N3 strain was discovered on three farms.
Anti-viral drugs
The chickens at Norwich Road Farm and Mowles Manor Poultry Unit at North Tuddenham were slaughtered after tests showed they had the H7N3 strain.
On Sunday morning workers moved in to begin the cull of about 15,000 birds.
A cull of 35,000 chickens at the nearby Witford Lodge Farm, where the latest outbreak started, ended on Saturday.
So far only one poultry worker has contracted the H7 strain of bird flu in the form of conjunctivitis.
Three other workers have tested negative for the disease.
A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said about 60 people, including poultry workers and members of the State Veterinary Service, had been given anti-viral drugs to prevent them getting ill.