France Confirms 1st Case of Bird Flu

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

The death of a wild duck had been confirmed as France's first case of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The French Agriculture Ministry said the country's food safety agency, AFSSA, had confirmed the presence of a highly pathogenic H5N1 virus on the duck found dead in the town of Joyeux, near Lyon, on Monday.

It is the closest case so far to the UK of the lethal H5N1 strain, which is responsible for the deaths of 91 people in Asia and Turkey.

While humans have so far only contracted the disease directly from birds, scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form easily passed between humans and spark a human flu pandemic.

The announcement in France comes as the disease spreads throughout Europe, raising fears it will soon come to the UK.

In Austria, authorities are ordering all poultry to be kept indoors following strong indications that a wild swan found dead in the capital Vienna would test positive for H5N1.

Germany announced another 28 wild birds had been found to have the deadly strain of bird flu, with hundreds more being tested.

Greece, Italy and Slovenia have also notified outbreaks, and results are awaited on samples from Austria and Hungary sent to the EU's testing laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey.

Outside Europe, India announced its first cases of H5N1 in chickens after 30,000 birds died in the past two weeks in Navapur, Maharashtra, and some tested positive for the disease.

The British Government has admitted it is likely bird flu would spread to the UK.

Animal health minister Ben Bradshaw tried to reassure the public that the discovery of the disease in wild birds would not damage the poultry industry, or see a repeat of the foot-and-mouth disease disaster. "Most of our big poultry organisations and businesses are very careful about disease spreading. They have very strict rules about who comes on and off and they have, I think, very good contingency plans."

The Government has drawn up plans to set up one-mile exclusion zones if a wild bird is found to be infected with the deadly strain.

Inside the zone, all poultry movements would be halted, and if any poultry was found to be infected the entire flock would face being culled.

[Jonathan]

I guess Britain reacts as strongly to the French case of bird flu as Sweden did a few days ago when Germany confirmed a case in the Baltic Sea. People think it's scary to have bird flu so close to their borders.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

typical OTT reactions abound, i suppose!!

alightly OT, but Ben Bradshaw was my MP, when I lived in Exeter, though back then he was the secretary of state for the middle east, within the FCO

[Earniel]

To think it's not going to hit all of northern Europe is IMO a bit foolish. Soon it'll be spring and the birds will be returning. Britain may get lucky due to its isolation, but I wouldn't count on it too much. I don't think any European country is going to escape the virus. We better start getting ready with hoarding the flu-drugs and starting the bird-vacination programmes.

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

oh no, dont get me wrong, i know it's comin, i just hate the OTT reactions, like the Daily Mail newspaper, which says things like PANIC!!!!! as it's headlines...

[Earniel]

Yeah, I agree. The bird flu has been steadily coming west for months now, like an approaching army. Now is hardly the time to go: "Whaa! Panic!" Of course, you never know what people will do if other people and birds start dying around them.

I hadn't mean to sound offensive in my previous post, it's just that the whole thing has gotten me a little bit miffed. It seems humanity can only learn from disasters and I won't count the times I wished I could slap some common sense in the world. Get a tsunami, only then will people see the need of a warning system. Get a few plagues of Mouth-and-Foot and BSE (or specifically in Belgium and the Netherlands a large dioxine polution of poultry) and only then will people think "Gee, you know, maybe we should be a little more careful about what we throw into our own food chain... Because who would have thought it might end up on our own plate? Gee..." And even then only symptoms get treated and hardly ever the actual problem.

A little mean part of me almost wishes that the chytrid-fungus infection (a current pandemic on amphibians) could harm humans too and maybe people will actually take a little notice.

*sigh* Don't mind me, I'm just in a bad mood today...

[Jonathan]

Media hype.

Bird flu is coming and many were surprised it started coming before spring. But measurements have been taken so there's no need for the media to blow things out of proportions and initiate a stupid mass panic.

[Spock]

Bird Flu Reported at France Turkey Farm

Firefighters disinfected wheels of a car at a checkpoint near Versailleux, eastern France, where turkeys were found to have the H5 virus, Friday Feb. PATRICK GARDINFrom Associated Press
February 24, 2006 8:26 AM EST

PARIS - France confirmed cases of bird flu on a turkey farm, but it was not immediately clear whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain, the agriculture minister said Friday.

International health experts were meeting with European Union health ministers in Vienna amid concern that EU governments are ill-prepared to deal with large-scale outbreaks of H5N1. EU health ministers were expected to agree to launch a targeted public information campaign to raise awareness across Europe

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

cluck cluck, cough *dies*