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35,000 chickens slaughtered after Norfolk bird flu outbreak

Workers were slaughtering 35,000 chickens on a Norfolk poultry farm today after some tested positive for bird flu.

Police officers stood guard at the entrance to Witford Lodge Farm at Hockering, near Dereham, where a strain of bird flu was found in samples from chickens that had been found dead.

Preliminary test results showed that the virus was likely to be the H7 strain, and not H5N1, which is a more virulent strain and a bigger threat to human beings. Further tests would be carried out today at the farm, which produces breeding stock for chicken farmers.

"Restrictions have been placed on the farm and birds on the premises will be slaughtered on suspicion of an avian notifiable disease," a spokesman for the Department of Food, Environment and the Regions (Defra) said.

"When the additional laboratory results are known, further action may be taken."  He declined to say how many birds were infected.

Nine potential subtypes of H7 are known. H7 infection in human beings is rare but can occur among people who have direct contact with infected birds. Symptoms may include conjunctivitis and upper respiratory tract problems. On very rare occasions it has proved fatal to human beings.

In 2003 an outbreak of the H7N7 strain in the Netherlands led to the culling of 30 million birds, more than a third of all Dutch poultry, at a cost of hundreds of millions of euros.

The latest alert is of huge significance to the poultry industry in the UK, which is worth about £3 billion a year at retail level. The Government will be particularly concerned about the threat to farms, because it was the H7 avian flu virus that devastated bird populations on a turkey farm in Norfolk in 1992.

Last month a wild swan that was found dead in the harbour at Cellardyke in Fife was found to have died of avian flu. That bird tested positive for the H5N1 version of the virus, which has been responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people, mostly in Asia. Although hundreds of wild birds have been tested in the past few months, the swan is the only case of H5N1 to have been found in the UK.

The Norfolk H7 outbreak comes as research indicates that Britain will need to double the stockpile of antiviral drugs that has been ordered by the Government to stand the best chance of controlling a flu pandemic.

The most comprehensive simulation yet of how pandemic flu would affect Britain has shown that antivirals such as Tamiflu could halve infection rates, but only if enough is available to treat half the population.

While scientists are reasonably certain that there will be another flu pandemic within two decades, it remains unknown whether the H5N1 strain will cause one, or how it would behave should it adapt to humans.

Treatment of half the population with antiviral drugs, which would be combined with school closures, would require about 30 million courses of Tamiflu, compared with the 14.6 million ordered by the Department of Health.

This would allow the drug to be given on a preventive basis to everyone in an infected household as well as to people who fell ill with pandemic flu, which the new model shows to be the best method of containing the disease

Click the link for full storey http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2154003,00.html

£2.99 handwash kills MRSA and bird flu

By JENNY HOPE, Daily Mail 08:46am 21st April 2006

The bird flu virus can be killed with a hand cleanser that is available on the High Street, scientists claim. Tests have shown that No-Germs can eradicate 99.8 per cent of the H5N1 strain in around 30 seconds. This strain has killed more than 100 people worldwide since 2003. The £2.99 handwash kills 99.8 per cent of the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Latest updates at DEFRA  website click HERE

B.S.Club Show 29/30th September 2007 The Dome Doncaster

Ballot for election to the BS General Council for 3 years 2006 to 2009 Results

J Attwood                           543    Elected

G Norris                             508    Elected

G Booth                              503    Elected

A Woan                              499    Elected

C Findlay                            496    Elected

G Al Nasser                       478    Elected

J Al Nasser                        477    Elected

G Capes                             459    Elected

D Hislop                             454    Elected

R Carr                                443    Elected

DHerring                            367    Elected

D T Dobson                        309    Elected

D Cottrell                          301    Unsuccessful

L Barnsdale                       230    Unsuccessful

G Grist                               222    Unsuccessful

Area Ballot Results

Midland B A

BHough                               74    Elected

L Bancrcft                            42   Unsuccessful

B Greenway                         36   Unsuccessful

Welsh B S

B Francis                              29   Elected

D Avo                                   18   Unsuccessful

As I am no longer a member of the GC I will not have access to the latest information,

to keep you informed about what is happening in the fancy with updates to the website

Click below for DEFRA Avian influenza (Bird flu): Questions & answers update http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/disease/ai/qanda/deadbird.htm

Out of hours telephone 020 7270 8960 Ref: 162/06
Date: 6 April 2006
Joint statement from the UK and Scottish Chief Veterinary Officers
H5n1 avian flu confirmed in dead wild bird in Scotland
Tests from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) have confirmed that the sample from the swan found dead in Fife, Scotland did contain the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus.
Scottish and UK officials are already undertaking an urgent veterinary risk assessment and consulting ornithological experts to consider the specific circumstances of this case and determine the level of any risk it may pose to poultry and other kept birds.
However, on the basis of a preliminary risk assessment it has been concluded that a GB-wide poultry housing requirement would be disproportionate. We are urgently considering whether there is a need for any regional measures in addition to those that have already been put in place in the Protection and Surveillance Zones. Further advice will be available once the full veterinary assessment is complete and this situation will be reviewed on a daily basis.
The Scottish Executive has already placed a Protection Zone of three kilometres radius where poultry have been housed and a Surveillance Zone of 10 kilometres around the site where the bird was found.
There is no reason for public health concern. Avian Influenza is a disease of birds and whilst it can pass very rarely and with difficulty, to humans this requires extremely close contact with infected birds, particularly faeces.
The European Commission have been informed of this development.
Notes to Editors
NHS Fife is closely involved with the planning arrangements that are currently in place, and is leading the planning for any arrangements to protect the health of those in close contact with any diseased birds.
Advice from the Food Standards Agency remains that properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
Guidance on handling and disposing of dead garden and wild birds
The advice given here applies in all circumstances where members of the public may come across a dead bird.
If you find a dead swan, goose or duck or three or more dead wild, or garden birds together in the same place, please report this to Defra, via the Defra Helpline on 08459 33 55 77. The current Defra helpline opening hours are Monday to Friday 6.00am to 10.00pm and Saturday and Sunday 6.00am to 10.00pm.
They may wish to have the birds examined for signs of specific diseases. They will advise you on what action you should take.
If the dead bird is a single, small garden, or wild bird then you do not need to call Defra.
You should:
• leave it alone, or
• follow the guidelines below for disposal
People should follow some simple hygiene precautions should minimise the risk of infection. It is hard for people to catch avian influenza from birds and the following simple steps are also effective against avian influenza.
If you have to move a dead bird
1. Avoid touching the bird with your bare hands
2. If possible, wear disposable protective gloves when picking up and handling (if disposable gloves are not available
3. Place the dead bird in a suitable plastic bag, preferably leak proof. Care should be taken not to contaminate the outside of the bag
4. Tie the bag and place it in a second plastic bag
5. Remove gloves by turning them inside out and then place them in the second plastic bag. Tie the bag and dispose of in the normal household refuse bin.
6. Hands should then be washed thoroughly with soap and water
7. If disposable gloves are not available, a plastic bag can be used as a make-shift glove. When the dead bird has been picked up, the bag can be turned back on itself and tied. It should then be placed in a second plastic bag, tied and disposed of in the normal household waste
8. Alternatively, the dead bird can be buried, but not in a plastic bag
9. Any clothing that has been in contact with the dead bird should be washed using ordinary washing detergent at the temperature normally used for washing the clothing.
10. Any contaminated indoor surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned with normal household cleaner.