Bird Flu outbreak in East Anglia, UK February 3, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Bird Flu, UK , trackback
Bird Flu has been confirmed to have hit the enormous Norfolk Turkey industry with thousands of birds due to be slaughtered.
East Anglian Daily Times (EADT) reports:
EADT - Suffolk farm hit by bird flu outbreak
GOVERNMENT officials last night confirmed an outbreak of bird flu on a Suffolk poultry farm after hundreds of turkeys died.
So what will this mean in terms of restrictions on movement, isolation and containment policy?
Yesterday afternoon the plant was working as normal, with no exclusion zone visible from the outside, and with bus-loads of workers ferried from around Norfolk and Waveney converging on the former airfield site to start shifts.
Which strain of Bird Flu is it?
BBC Radio news reported this morning that the strain was yet to be confirmed but Newswire NZ is saying that it’s a type of H5.
Bird Flu Found At UK Turkey Farm
It is the second time in less than 12 months that a poultry farm in the East Anglia area has been hit by bird flu. More than 30,000 birds were slaughtered after chickens near Dereham in Norfolk tested positive for the H7 strain of the virus in April last year.
Microbiologist Hugh Pennington said further tests would determine how closely the H5 strain found at the farm related to the H5N1 strain that has killed more than 160 people around the world since 2003.
Farmers Weekly published an updated Avian Flu special report just a few days ago containing Essential information for farmers on Avian Flu
Watch the Farmers Weekly Interactive tag cloud to see when “birdflu” or “avian” appears.
DEFRA (the government) publishes advice for UK farmers
Defra, UK - Disease surveillance and control - Notifiable diseases - Avian Influenza
Avian influenza is a highly infectious notifiable disease affecting many species of birds, including commercial, wild and pet birds.
and releases the latest news:
Defra, UK - News releases 2007: Avian influenza test result on poultry
These preliminary results show that it is the H5 strain of the virus but further confirmatory tests are in progress to identify the strain more fully, and more will be known tomorrow. The affected premises were put under restriction on Thursday (1st February) evening and the appropriate contingency plan has been put into effect.
When the additional laboratory results are known further action will be taken and all available information will be provided.
Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
All avian influenzas (H1 to H16) can be low pathogenic but only H5 and H7 are known to become highly pathogenic.
The particular strain which has been known to affect humans is H5N1 so we await the further tests with some urgency and in the hope that this is not it.
Map of countries with confirmed human case of H5N1 in 2006
See also the latest map from DARnet ยป The World is a dangerous place
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
Update: it has now been confirmed that this is H5N1.
My uncle works at the Bernard Mathhews factory and he said the thousands of dead turkeys pictured in the lorry were actually gassed with Zyklon B and are being made into lampshades.