Calm Is Urged Over Bird Flu Case (UK)

* Poultry owners within wild bird risk area must keep birds indoors or, if not possible, ensure they are kept away from wild birds
* Bird transport within 6 mile (10km) surveillance zone will be curbed
* Poultry within 1.8 mile (3km) protection zone must be kept indoors and will be tested

A minister has warned against the temptation to "turn a drama into a crisis" over the discovery of H5N1 bird flu in a dead swan in Scotland. Scottish Rural Affairs Minister Ross Finnie said the case was being dealt with in "proportion".

First Minister Jack McConnell is not planning to rush back from a visit to New York, with officials not wanting to promote panic and harm tourism.

Experts are warning the swan may not be an isolated case, with surveillance zones in force around Cellardyke, Fife, where the dead swan was found.

Mr Finnie told a press conference: "One thing we are trying very hard to do, to borrow that insurance phrase, is 'not turn a drama into a crisis'."

He said Mr McConnell's decision not to return in haste was "right and proper" as he did not want to inadvertently give the impression that Scotland was in a major "disease situation".

On Friday Cobra - the government committee which leads responses to national crises - met to review measures being taken.

The Scottish National Party is calling for the tests to be speeded up after it was revealed it took more than a week for the first case to be confirmed.

Meanwhile talks are to be held between farmers' leaders and the Scottish Executive on how to contain bird flu.

The H5N1 virus does not at present pose a large-scale threat to humans, as it cannot pass easily from one person to another.

But experts fear the virus could mutate to gain this ability, and in its new form trigger a flu pandemic, potentially putting millions of human lives at risk.

The Scottish Executive has extended surveillance zones in Scotland to include 175 properties with 3.1 million birds, as well as free-range poultry. About 48 are free-range premises with 260,000 birds.

An initial 1.8 mile (3km) protection zone was set up around Cellardyke on Wednesday, surrounded by a six-mile (10km) surveillance zone.

* Bird flu viruses have 16 H subtypes and nine N subtypes.
* Four types of the virus are known to infect humans - H5N1, H7N3, H7N7 and H9N2
* Most lead to minor symptoms, apart from H5N1
* H5N1 has caused more than 100 deaths in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam
* The World Health Organisation says not all H5 or H7 strains are severe, but their ability to mutate means their presence is "always a cause for concern"

Farmers in the affected area are being ordered to house their birds where possible, or separate them from wild birds and gatherings of birds are prohibited.

Restrictions on the movement of poultry, eggs and other poultry products have been implemented.

But Mr Finnie attacked as "irresponsible" the Waitrose supermarket chain's statement that none of its poultry or eggs came from Scotland.

The supermarket said its answer to a media question had been misinterpreted, that it was not suggesting Scottish chicken and eggs could pass on the disease, and that when it opened supermarkets in Scotland in the summer they would use local produce.

Some experts are calling for a programme of poultry vaccination to be introduced should a cluster of cases emerge.

There are 14 birds being tested for bird flu from Scotland include 12 swans and two other species, although there have been no indications they have the disease.

Three dead seagulls found at a boating lake in Gloucester are also being tested for the disease. A city council spokesman said they were being tested as a precaution and the risk of the gulls having died of bird flu was "minimal".

But Professor Albert Osterhaus, who advised on measures for a mass outbreak of the virus in the Netherlands three years ago, said it was a strong possibility more cases would be found.

Map shows Scotland's registered poultry population - darker colour represents more birds.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) responded to criticism over the delay in dealing with the dead swan by saying there had been no reason to suggest it should be given priority over other samples.

"It is vital that test results are accurate and, because of the badly decomposed state of this sample, a number of tests were carried out," said a Defra spokesman.

He said since 21 February the laboratory at Weybridge in Surrey had tested more than 1,100 samples.

If you find a dead swan, goose or duck; or three or more dead wild or garden birds in the same place, you should call the Defra helpline on 08459 335577.

New bird flu tests prove negative

Matt Weaver and agencies
The Guardian (UK)
Friday April 7, 2006

Tests on nine birds checked for bird flu in the wake of the first UK case of the deadly H5N1 virus proved negative, the Scottish Executive announced today.

It followed reassurances that bird flu still posed minimal risk to the British public despite confirmation that a dead swan found in the coastal village of Cellardyke, in Fife, had tested positive for H5N1.

The Scottish Executive yesterday said the remains of another 14 birds found in Scotland were being tested for the disease.

Today, a spokeswoman said she could not confirm how many birds were still being tested and whether the number had risen or fallen since yesterday. "No further positive results have been received," she said. "Nine negative results have come back, but we are unable to provide a running commentary on every test result."

The Scottish Executive has set up a 2,500km sq wild bird risk area in which farmers have been told to keep poultry indoors. Bird gatherings such as pigeon races have been banned, and the surveillance of wild birds will be stepped up.

The area encompasses 175 registered poultry farms containing more than 3m birds, including 260,000 free range poultry.

The swan infected with H5N1 was discovered more eight days ago in Cellardyke, which is around nine miles from St Andrews.

Local poultry farmers and the Scottish National party criticised the time it had taken to confirm the swan had died of the virulent strain of avian influenza.

The Cabinet Office's civil contingencies committee, Cobra, held a second meeting with Scottish Executive officials to discuss the situation today.

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also announced that tests on six dead swans found in the province had proved negative.

Four carcasses recovered in Portglenone, Co Antrim, and two found in Moira, Co Down, were checked for H5N1 and given the all-clear.

"So far this year, DARD has tested 23 swans, all of which have been negative for highly pathogenic avian influenza," the chief veterinary officer for Northern Ireland, Bert Houston, said. "We will continue to undertake such testing as necessary."

Earlier today, the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, insisted that Britain was better prepared than any other country to cope with bird flu.

He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that one case of a bird with the H5N1 strain - which can pass to humans - did not constitute a crisis.

The current outbreaks of pathogenic avian flu began in south-east Asia in mid-2003. There have been 191 confirmed human cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu reported to the World Health Organisation to date, and 108 human deaths.

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