It is H5N1 - what happens next then?

[Piffle]

From Sky news
Bird keepers and vets across the UK are putting contingency plans into place in an attempt to stem the spread of bird flu.

A two-mile radius protection zone has been set up around the site where the infected swan was found. That is encircled by a six-mile radius surveillance zone.

Vets will check birds within these zones for signs of bird flu. Movement of eggs and poultry within the surveillance zone will be restricted.

Now the H5N1 virus has been confirmed in the UK, poultry and captive birds will be moved indoors in an effort to stop the infection spreading.

A short-term national movement ban on birds and hatching eggs will be brought in as a precaution while the outbreak is investigated. Low risk movements would still be permitted under licence. All poultry kept on a premises confirmed as infected will be culled.

Culling or "slaughter on suspicion" may be ordered at a premises if there is a strong suspicion of avian flu and a high likelihood that it could spread. Premises in areas where birds were at low risk of exposure to the virus will have restrictions imposed for 21 days while checks are carried out.

Keepers with 50 or more birds are now listed on a compulsory register set up last year. But the NFU has warned that a communication plan to ensure that small-scale "hobby" bird keepers may not be in place.

Free-range farmers who are forced to move their birds indoors will be allowed to keep their poultry and eggs' free range status for a limited period. Mass bird vaccination is not expected to be part of Britain's bird flu control strategy, although the Government has not officially ruled it out.

The drawbacks to vaccination are that birds must be injected individually, with some poultry requiring two doses for it to be effective. It could take up to three weeks for birds to develop optimum protection.

And vaccinated birds can still spread the disease even though they do not develop symptoms. The Government's chief scientific adviser earlier ruled out the use of currently available bird flu vaccines.

as long as you cook meat and eggs thoroughly there isn't anything to worry about

I'm not worried - this is info for them that are :)

what happens next: the media all implode in a frenzy of scaremongering and we have to find other things to worry about?

Great timing for GF distraction

I'm not worried either (does this mean chicken prices will drop )

well as compo says as long as its all cooked thoroughly, it's fine. you're only likely to get H5N1 if you live and breathe and sleep with affected poultry/birds. just dont go to bird parks and zoos and bird farms or chicken farms or ostrich farms...you get the drift.

sorry if you keep chickens....best be keeping an eye out on their health!! apparently they just limp around in a sickly stupor and suddenly drop dead!!!

so no more half-boiled eggs.(unless they're vaxed)

prices of chicken SHOULD JOLLY well go down!! teeheee

So strictly no touching little fluffy chicks this easter, then.

Good god why not.

H5N1 has been around for ages. In fact, I was reading yesterday that a poultry worker here died of it in 1996 and all those poultry were culled at the time, the media just didn't make a fuss of it - so H5N1 hitting our shores is not a new thing. We didn't worry about going to farm parks for the last 10 years and there's been no mutation yet... I'm not going to start worrying now just because the media have told me to.

laugh, actually scratch that... it was a H7 strain here in 1996 and the worker got conjunctivitis, hardly lethal - just goes to show, don't trust everything you find on the internet

I'm still not going to worry about it just because they can now track the viruses as they now realise influenza epidemics can be transported by birds.

A flock of 8000 turkeys had H5N1 in the UK back in 1991, so it's definitely been here before, we just didn't know about it.

No not scared at all. Sorry but it sometimes seems that the government want us to be scared so we do what we're told and don't complain about the terrible things that happen in our name (did anyone see the front page of the Independent yesterday with a pic of the 'terrorist' grannies?). What worries me is that there is no plan to vaccinate so I expect the next measure will be wholesale culling of everything with bl**dy feathers....

There is a good reason for that though - vaccination doesn't stop the spread of the virus, just masks the symptoms. So a vaccinated flock can actually be ill but not show it - so you've then got the problem that the virus can be passed on, without anyway of knowing.

That's why they've gone for the cull route...

And vacc birds can still spread it as well.

I always get suspicious when the first thing in every news bulletin is that Chicken is SAfe to Eat...
I want to see the PM feed it to his kids first!

Ps that was a joke... recalling the BSE thing...

will still eat chicken and eggs

may not go to feed the ducks and wade through loads of poo to get there

I'm actually disappointed that pigeons aren't considered carriers at this time. I was so looking forward to a pigeon cull...

... I wonder if I went out and coughed and sneezed over all the pigeons I could find we'd get a sort of reverse bird flu effect?

Wow - didn't even know bird flu was found here! I'll probably still eat poultry too (esp if it'll be loads cheaper now!)

\link{http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/martinrowson/0,,1749063,00.html\Fab cartoon in the Guardian}