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Bird flu may reach Europe but threat limited
04 Aug 2005 10:35:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03582512.htm
By David Evans

PARIS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The discovery of bird flu in Siberia means migratory wildfowl may now carry the deadly virus to Europe, but the region is well set to limit the threat, the world animal health body said on Thursday.

Authorities in Siberia say they have detected the same H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus that has swept large parts of Asia, killing more than 50 people in the region, mostly in Vietnam.

The Paris-based OIE, which draws up global animal health guidelines, has been notified of the presence of an H5 type virus in Siberia by the Russian authorities.

Experts believe migratory wild birds such as geese and ducks may have carried the virus from infected Asian countries to Siberia.

Now it could be Europe's turn.

"The disease probably arrived in Siberia from Asia through wild birds and there's no doubt that birds from there fly to Europe," OIE Director-General Bernard Vallat told Reuters.

H5N1 is a particularly virulent strain of avian influenza, of which there are many types. It has led to the death of 140 million birds in Asia at a cost running to billions of dollars.

But farm structures are far different in Europe.

"It's not definite that even if infected birds arrived in Europe that they would pass the virus onto farm animals, the probability of contact is much less than in Asia," Vallat said.

"Farms here are enclosed and separated from one another."

In Asia, small backyard farms and unregulated local markets have allowed the disease to take hold as well as maximising the contact between people and infected birds.

Russian officials said there was a strong chance that the virus in Siberia would soon spread to the European part of Russia, where the country's poultry industry was concentrated.

Thay are also in contact with authorities in neighbouring Kazakhstan, where poultry deaths were recorded last month.

CONTROLS TIGHTENED

Scientists said last month that the discovery of dead birds at Lake Qinghaihu, a protected nature reserve in western China, meant the virus could soon spread outside Asia.

The virus, which affects ducks with little harm but kills chickens, had very rarely been seen to kill wild birds.

The World Health Organization (WHO) fears the virus would kill millions of people worldwide if it mutated and acquired the ability to pass easily from human to human.

A senior Russian veterinary official said the Netherlands and France were potenial destinations for migratory wildfowl.

The Dutch farm ministry played down the threat, saying after a risk assessment that further measures were unnecessary.

The Netherlands experienced a major outbreak of the less dangerous H7N7 bird flu strain in 2003, when 30 million birds were destroyed at a direct cost of more than 150 million euros.

Vallat said that despite the high density of farms in the Netherlands, which increased the risk of the disease spreading, surveillance and eradication plans had been stepped up.

"Since the last outbreak of bird flu, the authorities have taken new measures, they're much more prepared. We have the veterinary structures in place to act very quickly, to cull potentially infected animals and stop the disease," he said.

"We're not too worried about it," he added.

Swiss firm Roche said this week it was in talks with the WHO on donating substantial quantities of its anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu to the U.N. agency. And Britain's Acambis Plc said it was developing a potentially breakthrough new shot that could offer permanent protection against all types of flu.