| Submit your comments on this article |
| Britain |
| Avian Flu Wipes Out Turkey Flock In Suffolk |
| 2007-02-03 |
| The avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at a Suffolk farm has been confirmed as the H5N1 virus. The strain can be fatal if it is passed on to humans but experts said the outbreak was being contained and posed little danger to people. A spokesman for Bernard Matthews, which runs the farm, said none of the affected birds had entered the food chain and there was no risk to health. The 159,000 other turkeys on the farm will now have to be slaughtered. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the European Commission carried out virus tests at laboratories in Weybridge, Surrey. A three-kilometre protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone will be set up around Holton, which is approximately 27km south-west of Lowestoft. A Defra statement said further tests to characterise the virus were under way in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain. It is the first case on a UK commercial farm of an H5N1 infection. The strain has killed 164 people worldwide - mainly in south-east Asia - since 2003. However, the virus cannot pass from human to human at present. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |