INFORMATION BULLETIN
Date: 19 February 2008
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Out of hours telephone 020 7270 8960
Avian Influenza update: control and monitoring area merge
Defra has confirmed that from today the Wild Bird Control Area and Wild Bird Monitoring Area in Dorset will merge.
This is based on ongoing surveillance in the area, veterinary risk assessment, and expert ornithological advice about the area most at risk, in accordance with the Avian Influenza (H5N1 in Wild Birds) (England) Order 2006.
Highly pathogenic H5N1 was confirmed in three wild mute swans in the area on 10 January and to date there have been a total of 10 wild mute swans confirmed with the disease. The last case was a mute swan found dead on 29th January and confirmed on 4th February.
Acting Chief Veterinary Officer, Fred Landeg, said:
“Our active surveillance and sampling in the area has provided evidence that the virus has been confined to mute swans and at a very low level. H5N1 appears to have been present in the area for about two months, during this time we have seen only a few deaths in the mute swans. We have no evidence of the virus being present in healthy live mute swans or in other species of wild bird.. There is no evidence of disease spreading to domestic birds . On this basis we have today merged our Control Area and Monitoring Area to form a single Monitoring Area
“It is timely to remind everyone that the UK remains at a constant low level of risk of the introduction of highly pathogenic H5N1, with a slight increase during winter and spring migration. I therefore urge all bird keepers to remain vigilant for signs of disease and take measures to isolate kept birds from wild birds.”
The Wild Bird Monitoring Area must remain in place for at least 30 days following the collection of the last positive sample.
Further information
Information is available from the Defra Helpline (08459 33 55 77) - see www.defra.gov.uk for current opening hours. Bird keepers can also call the Animal Health recorded information line for the latest updates on 0844 884 4600.
Avian Influenza is a disease of birds. While it can pass very rarely and with difficulty to humans, this usually requires extremely close contact with infected birds, particularly faeces. Advice from the Food Standards Agency remains that properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
All Avian Influenza (H1 to H16) can be low pathogenic but only H5 and H7 are known to become highly pathogenic.
All poultry keepers registered with the GB Poultry Register will be contacted by text message with updates. All poultry keepers responsible for a premises with 50 or more birds are legally required to register. Defra strongly encourages those with less than 50 birds to register voluntarily.
The details on the measures that apply in the current zones can be found on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/avianflu/
The decision to merge the areas were underpinned by the evidence contained in the epidemiology report published on 30 January and a veterinary risk assessment which will be placed on the Defra website .
End
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Page published: 19 February 2008 14:20