UK: Turkey farm bird flu deaths probe

British government vets are continuing to investigate an outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm after more than 2,000 turkeys died.

The farm at the centre of the outbreak has been identified as a Bernard Matthews site at Holton near Halesworth, Suffolk, by trading standards officials.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on Friday night announced that preliminary tests had confirmed the bird flu outbreak.

But a spokeswoman said the risk of the disease spreading to humans was low and there was no need for "panic".

She said staff at the farm were being monitored and restrictions were in force to stop birds being moved in or out of the site.

It is the second time in less than 12 months that UK-reared poultry has been hit by bird flu.

More than 30,000 birds were slaughtered after chickens near Dereham, Norfolk, tested positive in April.

One worker at the farm caught the disease and was treated for an eye infection.

In March 2006, a wild swan found in Cellardyke, Fife, was found to have the version of the virus - H5N1 - which has been responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people, mostly in Asia. The swan was thought to have caught the disease abroad, died at sea and its body washed to the UK shore.

Defra experts have confirmed that the latest outbreak at the Bernard Matthews farm is an H5 version of the virus, but they have yet to identify the strain responsible for the bird's death.