Suspected Bird Flu Case in Scotland

Scientists and vets in Scotland are tonight carrying out urgent tests on a swan infected with bird flu. The bird, which was confirmed to be carrying the H5 strain of the virus, was found on a farm in Fife this afternoon.

The farm was quarantined in line with the emergency procedures agreed at EU level, and Cobra - the Cabinet Office emergency committee - was activated. A six-mile exclusion zone was set up around the farm.

Tests are being carried out tonight to determine whether the swan is carrying H5N1, the most lethal strain of the virus, which can infect humans. If it tests positive for H5N1, the swan would be the first bird in Britain to be discovered carrying the virus.

The prime minister, who is in Northern Ireland, was tonight informed of the development by the Scottish first minister, Jack McConnell. A Downing Street spokesman said: "We will just have to wait to see what the morning brings. We have put our emergency plan into procedure."

By coincidence the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had earlier today been conducting its first national emergency simulation of its procedures in the event of a bird flu outbreak. The government has investigated 40 suspected cases of bird flu in the UK since January. Last month vets carried out urgent tests to determine whether 100 dead chickens found at an Orkney farm were the first in Britain to have become infected with the deadly strain of avian flu.

Steve Lister of the British Veterinary Poultry Association said tonight that the H5 strain had not been found in British poultry since late 1991, but that Defra had carried out tests on thousands of wild birds. Defra has so far been asked to investigate almost 1,800 reports of dead birds.

Virtually all bird flu cases so far detected in a dozen EU countries have been in wild fowl - and extensive precautions have been put in place to stop the spread to commercial bird flocks.

 

I emailed that reporter 2 weeks ago about the Scottish farm above, He did email me back to say that the tests had come back negative but they were waiting for results of what actually killed the hundred poultry.

 

Guess we know the true answer now.