Bird flu in Britain prompts culling of Christmas poultry

An outbreak of bird flu on a farm in England has prompted the culling of 5,000 turkeys, 1,000 ducks and 500 geese.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu was discovered on Redgrave Park Farm, near Diss in Norfolk which breeds turkeys, geese and ducks and is a supplier to leading supermarkets.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) say tests have confirmed the strain as the deadly H5N1 which has been sweeping across Asia, Europe, and Africa since 2003.

A three-kilometre protection zone and a 10-kilometre surveillance zone have been set up around the farm and poultry farmers across Britain have been placed on high alert and warned to house their birds.

All employees at the site had been given antiviral drugs as a precaution.

Earlier this year bird flu forced the culling of 160,000 turkeys at the Bernard Matthews turkey farm in Suffolk but the latest incident is not thought to be connected to that outbreak.

After 60 turkeys in a flock of 1,000 from one house on the site were found dead the site was immediately isolated and additional bio security measures imposed.

This year the H5N1 virus has been found in the UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, France, and Germany; the February outbreak in Norfolk was suspected to be linked to Hungary.

This latest outbreak comes at an inopportune time for poultry breeders as this is the high season and they would expect to sell more than 20 million birds.

The most recent H5N1 incident in Europe was near Munich in September when more than 300,000 ducks were slaughtered at poultry farms after the disease was found in frozen produce.

Since 2003, worldwide, more than 300 people have been infected with strains of the H5N1 bird flu virus, and over half have died.

As a rule bird viruses do not infect humans but people who have been in close contact with infected birds have died.

Scientists are concerned that the H5N1 avian flu virus will ultimately mutate and spread from person to person, triggering a worldwide pandemic.

The outbreak is yet another blow to the nation's farming industry, which is still dealing with the effects of bluetongue and foot and mouth disease.