Bird flu confirmed in Scotland, therefore : JUMP OUT THE WINDOW !, or
sell QCOM
or
get rich buying gold and silver (or real estate).
Jon.
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Deadly bird flu confirmed in swan
Thu Apr 6, 2006 4:41 PM BST
By Ian MacKenzie
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Tests have shown that a wild swan found dead in Scotland had the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, the government said on Thursday.
Britain becomes the 14th country in the European Union to find on its territory a disease that has been blamed for 109 human deaths elsewhere since 2003.
A spokesman for the Scottish executive confirmed that the Mute swan, found last week in Cellardyke harbour in eastern Scotland, had the deadly flu strain.
The partially eaten carcass of the swan was found late on March 29 and sent to a laboratory in Weybridge for analysis on March 31.
Amid a media frenzy over the discovery of H5N1 in Britain, government and officials tried to calm the public's concerns about the risk of transmission of the disease to humans.
"There is a better chance of a person winning the national lottery than catching bird flu in the U.K. today," doctor Jim Robertson from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control said.
UNWELCOME DEVELOPMENT
"This is an unwelcome and important development from the point of view of poultry health, but there are no implications either for human health or consumers," the National Farmers' Union said.
Scotland's chief veterinary officer Charles Milne said it was not known whether the swan was from a local or migratory flock.
Milne said there was no indication of infections in domestic poultry, and no reason to believe the carcass had been partially eaten by a domestic animal.
Officials have set up a 3-km (1.8-mile) protection zone around where the swan was found.
Owners of birds within the zone have been told to take them indoors. A further 10-km surveillance zone is in force.
Government officials reviewed bird flu contingency plans at a London meeting on Thursday and concluded that "all relevant steps are being taken."
Bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, but can infect people who come into direct contact with infected birds.
Milne said properly prepared poultry and poultry products were entirely safe for human consumption.
Bob McCracken, past president of the British Veterinary Association, said that contact between wild birds that may be infected and poultry should be kept to a minimum.
"We also have to work on the assumption that there is some spread among wild birds ... There is no doubt we are getting closer to the day when moving birds indoors will be necessary," he said.
Scientists said they were confident that surveillance for possible cases of the disease was good enough.
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. |
