Sally Furniss
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Russia, Japan ban British poultry over bird flu
05 Feb 2007 22:44:33 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04375568.htm
By Luke MacGregor
HOLTON, England, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Russia and Japan banned British poultry imports after Britain's first outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu in farmed poultry that caused it to cull almost 160,000 turkeys on Monday.
Workers wearing white protective suits, black gloves and masks took the livestock away in crates to be gassed after discovery of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu on a farm in eastern England run by Europe's largest turkey producer, Bernard Matthews.
The H5N1 virus has spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe since it reemerged in Asia in 2003 and though it remains largely an animal disease, it can kill people who come into close contact with infected birds.
In Cairo, a World Health Organisation official said a 12-year-old Egyptian girl had become the latest confirmed victim of the disease that has killed 166 people in the past four years.
Britain's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the cull at the infected farm at Holton ended at just after 2030 GMT.
Environment Secretary David Miliband said veterinary experts were investigating the source of the infection, which was most likely to have come from wild birds.
But he told parliament the risk to the public was judged by experts to be negligible, adding that properly cooked poultry and eggs were safe.
The outbreak had an immediate impact on Britain's poultry industry, the second largest in the European Union after France.
Russian officials said Moscow would ban British poultry imports from Tuesday. Japan also banned British imports of fowl while Ireland barred their import for "gatherings and shows".
Some scientists have expressed fears the virus could mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted among humans and possibly cause a global pandemic.
UK POULTRY SALES 'HOLDING UP'
Poultry sales in Britain held up despite the scare, however.
"The biggest threat to the poultry industry is not avian influenza. It is a backlash from consumers," said free range poultry farmer John Widdowson, adding that consumers appeared to have reacted calmly to the outbreak.
"Every day that goes by with no further outbreak we become more confident it is under control," he added.
Britain's leading supermarket chains, Tesco <TSCO.L>, Sainsbury <SBRY.L>, Wal-Mart Stores <WMT.N> subsidiary ASDA and WM Morrison <MRW.L> all reported sales were bearing up well.
Consumers in Europe's top poultry producing country, France, reacted more sharply to an outbreak last year with sales plunging more than 30 percent after the H5N1 virus was found on a turkey farm in February. They did not recover until mid-year.
The European Union's top health official said he was optimistic the bloc would be able to control bird flu this year despite outbreaks of the H5N1 strain in Britain and Hungary.
But EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Markos Kyprianou added: "The virus is still around. We should never feel that we are safe."
Outbreaks have now been detected in birds in around 50 countries. The 12-year-old Egyptian victim was believed to have been infected after coming into contact with sick and dead birds, the WHO official said.
Sixty-three people have been killed in Indonesia, the country worst affected.
Many countries are testing plans to deal with a flu pandemic should the virus develop into a more dangerous form.
Japan, which has had four outbreaks of H5N1 at poultry farms this year but no human cases, held a drill on Monday to test its preparations. (Additional reporting by Rachel Sanderson, Nigel Hunt and Deborah Haynes in London, Paul Hoskins in Dublin, Aleksandras Budrys in Moscow, Jeremy Smith in Brussels)
05 Feb 2007 22:44:33 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04375568.htm
By Luke MacGregor
HOLTON, England, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Russia and Japan banned British poultry imports after Britain's first outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu in farmed poultry that caused it to cull almost 160,000 turkeys on Monday.
Workers wearing white protective suits, black gloves and masks took the livestock away in crates to be gassed after discovery of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu on a farm in eastern England run by Europe's largest turkey producer, Bernard Matthews.
The H5N1 virus has spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe since it reemerged in Asia in 2003 and though it remains largely an animal disease, it can kill people who come into close contact with infected birds.
In Cairo, a World Health Organisation official said a 12-year-old Egyptian girl had become the latest confirmed victim of the disease that has killed 166 people in the past four years.
Britain's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the cull at the infected farm at Holton ended at just after 2030 GMT.
Environment Secretary David Miliband said veterinary experts were investigating the source of the infection, which was most likely to have come from wild birds.
But he told parliament the risk to the public was judged by experts to be negligible, adding that properly cooked poultry and eggs were safe.
The outbreak had an immediate impact on Britain's poultry industry, the second largest in the European Union after France.
Russian officials said Moscow would ban British poultry imports from Tuesday. Japan also banned British imports of fowl while Ireland barred their import for "gatherings and shows".
Some scientists have expressed fears the virus could mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted among humans and possibly cause a global pandemic.
UK POULTRY SALES 'HOLDING UP'
Poultry sales in Britain held up despite the scare, however.
"The biggest threat to the poultry industry is not avian influenza. It is a backlash from consumers," said free range poultry farmer John Widdowson, adding that consumers appeared to have reacted calmly to the outbreak.
"Every day that goes by with no further outbreak we become more confident it is under control," he added.
Britain's leading supermarket chains, Tesco <TSCO.L>, Sainsbury <SBRY.L>, Wal-Mart Stores <WMT.N> subsidiary ASDA and WM Morrison <MRW.L> all reported sales were bearing up well.
Consumers in Europe's top poultry producing country, France, reacted more sharply to an outbreak last year with sales plunging more than 30 percent after the H5N1 virus was found on a turkey farm in February. They did not recover until mid-year.
The European Union's top health official said he was optimistic the bloc would be able to control bird flu this year despite outbreaks of the H5N1 strain in Britain and Hungary.
But EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Markos Kyprianou added: "The virus is still around. We should never feel that we are safe."
Outbreaks have now been detected in birds in around 50 countries. The 12-year-old Egyptian victim was believed to have been infected after coming into contact with sick and dead birds, the WHO official said.
Sixty-three people have been killed in Indonesia, the country worst affected.
Many countries are testing plans to deal with a flu pandemic should the virus develop into a more dangerous form.
Japan, which has had four outbreaks of H5N1 at poultry farms this year but no human cases, held a drill on Monday to test its preparations. (Additional reporting by Rachel Sanderson, Nigel Hunt and Deborah Haynes in London, Paul Hoskins in Dublin, Aleksandras Budrys in Moscow, Jeremy Smith in Brussels)