Mass cull as bird flu hits Britain

THE first case of the deadly flu virus H5N1 in a flock of British birds was confirmed yesterday, prompting renewed fears that it is only a matter of time before the strain mutates to pass from human to human.

The task of culling more than 150,000 turkeys at the affected farm in Suffolk was already under way last night in a desperate bid to stamp out the outbreak of the highly contagious virus.

But there is growing concern that the emergence of the virus - at a time when few birds are migrating to the UK - could indicate that it has already spread into the native population. Such a scenario would leave poultry across Britain more vulnerable than ever to infection.

Last night, officials confirmed the virus was the deadly Asian strain which has so far killed 161 people across the world.

The news of the fresh case prompted government scientists to throw an emergency cordon around the Bernard Matthews factory in Holton.

In a precautionary measure, workers at the factory where the outbreak was discovered were offered the anti-flu medicine Tamiflu.

But health officials quickly attempted to stem rising panic over the outbreak, insisting the potential health effects on humans was "negligible". They reassured consumers that there had been no cases of bird flu being transmitted by eating infected poultry, and said humans could only be in danger by coming into close contact with affected birds.

The case in Suffolk comes 10 months after the first case of H5N1 was discovered in Britain, in a dead swan found in Cellardyke, Fife.

However, this is the first time that H5N1 has spread to a flock of domestic birds being reared in enclosed conditions.

The outbreak was discovered on Thursday in one of the large turkey houses at the farm, and officials from the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) were notified immediately.

Yesterday morning, Defra announced that the virus had indeed been the H5N1 strain.

Fred Landeg, the deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, said: "I urge keepers of birds to be vigilant, to take care if handling birds which appear to be unwell and to observe high levels of bio-security. Owners that suspect disease should act quickly to consult their vet."

He added: "There is no reason for public health concern. Avian influenza is a disease of birds and, whilst it can pass very rarely and with difficulty to humans, this requires extremely close contact with infected birds."

Landeg said that the birds had come from an undisclosed hatchery in the UK, and that none had been moved off the farm. Early indications were that this was a "recent introduction of disease".

However, experts said the timing of the outbreak was cause for concern.

Avian flu expert Dr Colin Butter, at the Institute of Animal Health, said that as the infection had occurred at a nonmigratory time of year, it could indicate a "significant" level of the disease in wild birds indigenous to the UK.

Andre Farrar, from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, agreed the timing of the outbreak raised questions.

He said: "We are not in the middle of what is considered to be a major migrating period now. The autumn migration has been over for weeks. The only way to find out what happened is to wait and see."

Microbiologists said that while H5N1 remained an animal virus, there was an outside chance that it could mutate into a human-borne virus.