Farmers shield flocks from spread of bird flu

Ireland and Russia today banned imports of British poultry and eggs, and farmers elsewhere in Europe took steps to shield their flocks from the possible spread of deadly bird flu from an infected British turkey farm.

Although the source of Britain’s first mass outbreak of the H5N1 virus was uncertain, the Dutch government said it could have come from wild birds. The Agriculture Ministry ordered birds be kept indoors or behind chicken wire and protective netting at farms throughout the Netherlands, which sits along a major migratory path.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority imposed similar rules in the southern part of the country to minimise risk of contact with wild birds.

Japan halted British poultry imports on Saturday, the same day that laboratory tests confirmed that the highly pathogenic strain of the virus had been found.

Today authorities in Ireland banned bird shipments from Britain and revoked poultry-import licenses in a cross-border initiative. The action stopped short of cancelling fairs, markets, exhibitions or pigeon races.

Russia’s veterinary watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, said its ban would take effect tomorrow, including live birds, poultry meat, eggs and feed.

In Brussels, the European Union’s top health official urged veterinary authorities around the EU to be on their guard, warning that further outbreaks were likely in the months ahead.

“The virus is still around,” EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told reporters. “We should never feel that we are safe, in the sense of … eradicating it, but we have a system in place, we have to remain vigilant and we have to remain ready to act.”

World health experts have been tracking the H5N1 strain of bird flu out of concern it could mutate into a form that is easily transmissible between humans and spark a flu pandemic.

Kyprianou said he would hold talks with health experts later today to assess whether further EU-wide action would be necessary to help contain the outbreak in Britain. Veterinary experts were to meet tomorrow to assess EU animal safety measures.

“We should remind ourselves that the virus is around, so we will have probably more outbreaks around the European Union in the future, like last year.”

The outbreak occurred on a holding of 159,000 turkeys near Lowestoft. Movement around the farm was restricted, as vets in white protective gear began the slaughter of the entire flock.

In France, which was hit a year ago by the lethal virus strain at a turkey farm in the south-east, agriculture minister Dominique Bussereau ordered the national food safety agency to assess the risks of another round of infection, and to issue a report later today.

Bussereau cautioned against panic. “We should not dramatise the situation but we must tell the truth,” he said on RTL radio.

The appearance of the disease last month in Hungary was the first known case of the H5N1 strain within the European Union since August 2006.

The Netherlands, a low-lying country with marshy shorelines and internal lakes, is particularly vulnerable to disease carried by wild birds, and was one of the first European countries to take action, reimposing restrictions on free range poultry that was lifted only in November after a scare last summer.

“The general picture is that farmers are obeying the rules,” said Roel Vincken, spokesman for the Dutch Agricultural Inspection Service.

An exemption was made for birds vaccinated against H5N1 – including most birds in zoos. Birds could be freed from confinement a week after completing a course of vaccinations, the Dutch ministry said.

The worst outbreak of bird flu in the Netherlands was three years ago, although it was a different strain, H7N7, which infected 89 people and killed one person. More than 30 million chickens were slaughtered, hitting one of the country’s biggest export industries.