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Britain: Bird flu is deadly H5N1 strain
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-24 19:25
Britain confirmed its first case of bird flu since 1992,
saying the virus that killed a parrot in quarantine is the same deadly strain
that has plagued Asia and recently spread to Europe.
A Chinese man carries live ducks at a
wholesale market in Shanghai, China, Monday, Oct. 24, 2005. China's
capital is stepping up efforts to prevent the spread of bird flu to humans
by securing its borders and sending inspectors to farms, homes and
markets, state media said Monday. [AP] |
Scientists determined the parrot, imported from South America, died of the
H5N1 strain that has devastated poultry stocks and killed 61 people in Asia over
the past two years, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said
on Sunday.
The virus is being spread by migrating wild birds and has recently been found
in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania, spurring efforts around the globe to
contain it.
While H5N1 is easily transmitted between birds, it is hard for humans to
contract. But experts fear it could mutate into a form of flu that is easily
transmitted between humans and cause a pandemic that could kill millions.
Debby Reynolds, DEFRA's chief veterinarian, said the parrot was likely
infected with the virus while it was in quarantine with birds from Taiwan. Tests
conducted on the Taiwanese birds that had died were inconclusive, the department
said.
DEFRA said the virus most closely matched a strain found
in ducks in China earlier this year but was not very similar to strains
discovered in Romania and Turkey. The genetic makeup of the virus changes
slightly as it spreads, and scientists use such tests to track its migration
across the world.
Chicken stands in a chicken farm in the
outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras October 23, 2005. The Honduran
government will ban imports of products from Asia and Europe in an effort
to contain a possible outbreak of bird flu and will strengthen control
after new cases were reported in Colombia, officials said on
Friday.[Reuters] |
On Monday, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry confirmed bird flu in
another central region.
Seventy birds in the village of Yuzhny in the Tambov region, about 250 miles
southeast of Moscow, have fallen ill with the disease, ministry spokeswoman
Veronika Smolskaya said. Eight of the birds died and 48 were slaughtered over
the past day, the Interfax news agency reported.
Bird flu devastated flocks in several regions in Siberia and the Urals during
the summer, and last week it hit a village about 200 miles south of Moscow.
Preliminary tests confirmed the poultry there had been infected with the H5N1
strain, and authorities culled all 3,000 birds in the village.
On Sunday, the Croatian government promised to compensate villagers and
farmers whose birds were slaughtered to prevent the spread of bird flu. About
10,000 domestic birds have been killed in an area near a national park where six
swans were found to have been infected with the virus.
The European Commission on Friday said it was preparing a ban on all poultry
imports from the country, while some individual European nations have already
done so.
In related developments:
Indonesia's agriculture minister said Monday the country will revise laws
that have been used to prevent health authorities from investigating suspected
bird flu outbreaks in commercial poultry farms. When the deadly H5N1 strain
first appeared in Indonesia two years ago, the country's 11 biggest poultry
producers blocked access to their farms, hampering efforts to fight the virus.
Bird flu has killed three people in Indonesia.
Sweden said one of four ducks found dead in an area west of Stockholm Friday
was infected with bird flu, but not the deadly H5N1 strain.
The European Union said its bird flu experts will discuss a possible ban on
imports of wild birds into the 25-nation bloc on Tuesday. The EU has so far
resisted calls to ban all pet bird imports, fearing it could create a black
market that could increase the threat of infected birds being smuggled in.
Indian drug maker Cipla Ltd. said Monday that it could produce 50,000 doses
of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu a month starting early next year, as it
pressed Roche of Switzerland for a license to manufacture a generic version of
the drug.
Roche has been under growing pressure from governments and U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan to license generic versions of Tamiflu, which is used in
treating humans who have bird flu.
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