http://www.thisisguernsey.com/code/shownewsarticle.pl?ArticleID=000458
Bird-flu scare in Jersey over duck
by Tom Bradshaw
GUERNSEY?S bird flu status remains at amber alert two despite concerns about a sick duck discovered in Jersey over the weekend.
<TABLE width=200 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>Agriculture and environment advisor Andrew Casebow takes a sample from a dead bird. (0295039)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Agriculture and environment advisor Andrew Casebow reassured islanders that dead ducks were common at this time of year, either because of natural causes or accidents.
?We need to get concerned only with incidents of unusual or unexplained deaths and illnesses.?
He said La Grande Mare Golf Club reported at least two dead ducks a week but most had been hit by golf balls or run over by cars.
On Friday, the airport reported a duck which had died after flying into a window.
But precautions were taken after the sick animal was found at Jersey?s Greve de Lecq car park on Friday night.
The area has been disinfected and an order has been issued for all poultry within a radius of 1,000 metres to be kept indoors.
On Saturday morning the duck began to exhibit flu-like symptoms and was destroyed by Jersey?s acting States veterinary officer Hugh Forshaw, as were other birds at the shelter which had been in close contact with it.
A post-mortem revealed that the duck probably had a bacterial infection, but avian flu could not be ruled out.
Mr Casebow said bacterial infections were not a concern.
Tissues from the dead bird were sent to the Central Veterinary Laboratory at Weybridge in Surrey.
Full results are expected to take up to eight days to come through, although an interim report could be available sooner.
Mr Casebow said Guernsey was at no greater risk.
?If there was a real scare in Jersey and they had something confirmed in the next few days, then the alert status would go up a gear and we would go into full swing.?
Jersey?s Environment minister, Freddie Cohen, said clear procedures were in place to deal with any suspected cases of avian flu and that no significant change to the alert status had been ordered by the States vet.
Guernsey has five stages of alert, outlined in the contingency plan drawn up by the Commerce and Employment Department, and had been on amber one since cases were discovered on the Continent.
It had moved up a level following confirmation last week of the deadly H5N1 strain in a
swan in Scotland.
?Guernsey would seem fairly safe because at this time of year, there is no east to west migration of birds. All the recent cases in France were birds that were trying to get away from the cold spell in the Balkans,?
he said.
?And the swan in Scotland had the same strain of bird flu as those found in Germany. We are well away from that.?
If a case was confirmed on the south coast of England, in Jersey or on the north-west coast of France, the status would be put up to amber alert three. That would involve far greater surveillance.
But for the time being, he said, Guernsey need only carry on its proportionate response of monitoring.
Each week, his team takes cloacal swabs from dead birds of the species concerned. These are sent for analysis at the central lab in Weybridge.
This week, they will be including swabs from live birds.
?We are most concerned with migrating water fowl such as passage geese, black-headed gulls, teal and some migrating ducks and waders.?
Mr Casebow said that the island was in a good position because many of the contingency plan?recommendations for amber level three had already been enacted.
The island put its plan to the test in September with a real-time simulation of an outbreak.
?We enacted a full-scale alert, taking all the necessary bio-security precautions. We took samples from birds at one of the poultry farms and then sent those off to be tested.?
A registration scheme was also introduced for all poultry owners in the island.
Mr Casebow urged anyone with any number of birds to ensure a comprehensive database could be established.
?Guernsey?s registration system was more thorough than the UK?s because the government there had asked only for commercial flocks to be signed up and has only recently lowered that to flocks of more than 50.?
Bird-flu scare in Jersey over duck
by Tom Bradshaw
GUERNSEY?S bird flu status remains at amber alert two despite concerns about a sick duck discovered in Jersey over the weekend.
<TABLE width=200 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD>
?We need to get concerned only with incidents of unusual or unexplained deaths and illnesses.?
He said La Grande Mare Golf Club reported at least two dead ducks a week but most had been hit by golf balls or run over by cars.
On Friday, the airport reported a duck which had died after flying into a window.
But precautions were taken after the sick animal was found at Jersey?s Greve de Lecq car park on Friday night.
The area has been disinfected and an order has been issued for all poultry within a radius of 1,000 metres to be kept indoors.
On Saturday morning the duck began to exhibit flu-like symptoms and was destroyed by Jersey?s acting States veterinary officer Hugh Forshaw, as were other birds at the shelter which had been in close contact with it.
A post-mortem revealed that the duck probably had a bacterial infection, but avian flu could not be ruled out.
Mr Casebow said bacterial infections were not a concern.
Tissues from the dead bird were sent to the Central Veterinary Laboratory at Weybridge in Surrey.
Full results are expected to take up to eight days to come through, although an interim report could be available sooner.
Mr Casebow said Guernsey was at no greater risk.
?If there was a real scare in Jersey and they had something confirmed in the next few days, then the alert status would go up a gear and we would go into full swing.?
Jersey?s Environment minister, Freddie Cohen, said clear procedures were in place to deal with any suspected cases of avian flu and that no significant change to the alert status had been ordered by the States vet.
Guernsey has five stages of alert, outlined in the contingency plan drawn up by the Commerce and Employment Department, and had been on amber one since cases were discovered on the Continent.
It had moved up a level following confirmation last week of the deadly H5N1 strain in a
swan in Scotland.
?Guernsey would seem fairly safe because at this time of year, there is no east to west migration of birds. All the recent cases in France were birds that were trying to get away from the cold spell in the Balkans,?
he said.
?And the swan in Scotland had the same strain of bird flu as those found in Germany. We are well away from that.?
If a case was confirmed on the south coast of England, in Jersey or on the north-west coast of France, the status would be put up to amber alert three. That would involve far greater surveillance.
But for the time being, he said, Guernsey need only carry on its proportionate response of monitoring.
Each week, his team takes cloacal swabs from dead birds of the species concerned. These are sent for analysis at the central lab in Weybridge.
This week, they will be including swabs from live birds.
?We are most concerned with migrating water fowl such as passage geese, black-headed gulls, teal and some migrating ducks and waders.?
Mr Casebow said that the island was in a good position because many of the contingency plan?recommendations for amber level three had already been enacted.
The island put its plan to the test in September with a real-time simulation of an outbreak.
?We enacted a full-scale alert, taking all the necessary bio-security precautions. We took samples from birds at one of the poultry farms and then sent those off to be tested.?
A registration scheme was also introduced for all poultry owners in the island.
Mr Casebow urged anyone with any number of birds to ensure a comprehensive database could be established.
?Guernsey?s registration system was more thorough than the UK?s because the government there had asked only for commercial flocks to be signed up and has only recently lowered that to flocks of more than 50.?