- Q&A: Bird flu. James Sturcke and David Batty explain the background to the
virus and how Britain is responding to the threat of a pandemic.
Thursday
April 6, 2006
- Bird flu
around
the world: a guide. James Sturcke and David Batty
Thursday
April 6, 2006
- Bird flu advice. A 2,500-square km safety zone has been set up around a
Scottish village following the first case of bird flu in Britain. Poultry
keepers have been advised to take precautions and the general public told not
to touch dead birds they find in the wild. Here is a summary of current
guidelines. James Sturcke and David Batty
Thursday
April 6, 2006
- The lethal avian flu virus found in a swan in Scotland is almost certain
to spread to wild birds across the UK before threatening Britain's poultry
industry, experts warned yesterday. Sandra Laville and Ian Sample
Friday
April 7, 2006 The Guardian . See also
Special Report:
bird flu
- More than 3m doses of an as yet untested vaccine are on their way to the
UK while research continues into a drug that could protect humans against an
avian flu pandemic. The doses of the H5N1 vaccine, which has been put through
some clinical trials, are due to arrive anytime after May 1 and could be used
for staff within the NHS. But the Department of Health has said the vaccine is
just a first line of defence while drug companies rush to find an exact
vaccine to match a pandemic flu strain. Sandra Laville
Friday
April 7, 2006 The Guardian
- 'It's been eight days since the swan was found but no one has told us
anything.' · Locals who raised alarm criticise slow response · Protection zone
thrown up around Cellardyke. Gerard Seenan
Friday
April 7, 2006 The Guardian
- How virus could spread from foothold in Fife across the UK · Migrating
ducks blamed for importing H5N1 strain · Transmission between wild birds
'inevitable' Ian Sample and James Meikle
Friday
April 7, 2006 The Guardian
- Symptoms and safety measures.
Friday
April 7, 2006 The Guardian
- The lethal avian flu virus found in a swan in Scotland is almost certain
to spread to wild birds across the UK before threatening Britain's poultry
industry, experts warned yesterday. Their prediction came as a further 14
swans were being tested for the deadly H5N1 virus that scientists yesterday
confirmed had killed the mute swan found in the village of Cellardyke in Fife.
Sandra Laville and Ian Sample
Friday
April 7, 2006 The Guardian
- The decomposing body of the swan washed in and out with the tide in
Cellardyke Harbour for several days. After a while, seagulls started to feed
off it. Children played on the beach beside it. On March 29, several days
after it was first sighted, it was reported to the authorities, but too late
for the now rotten remains to be collected that day. There was a delay for the
weekend. By Wednesday, nervousness in government circles was reflected in a
meeting of Cobra, the government's emergency planning arm. But not until
Thursday April 6 was it announced that the bird, a mute swan, was infected
with the deadly H5N1 strain. Bird flu had arrived in Britain. Leader
Friday
April 7, 2006 The Guardian
- Swan may have caught the virus a month ago. Timing of infection linked to
arrival of H5N1 in France. Ian Sample and James Meikle
Saturday
April 8, 2006 The Guardian
- Test results on five birds at the centre of a nationwide bird flu scare
are expected. Hopes have risen that a dead swan found in Fife, which was
confirmed on Thursday as Britain's first case of the deadly H5N1 strain, could
be a one-off after tests on 15 other bird carcasses proved negative. Out of 14
dead birds discovered in Scotland, where a 1,000-square mile quarantine zone
has been imposed, nine have so far received the all clear. Laboratory tests on
six other bird carcasses found in Northern Ireland also tested negative on
Friday night. Government scientists in Weybridge, Surrey, are expected to
announce the results from five other dead birds found in Scotland later on
Saturday.
Saturday April 8, 2006 10:08 AM
- The death of a Scottish swan from bird flu suggests that other infected
birds are flying around Britain, but the chances of any human contracting the
virus are still extraordinary low, the head of the United Nations' global
fight against the disease said last night. More than 70 animal health experts
were sent out this weekend into the six-mile surveillance zone around the
coastal village of Cellardyke in Fife, where the swan was found, to collect
bird carcasses, photograph them and send them for laboratory sampling.
Scottish farmers within the zone were told to keep their hens indoors and
diagnostic laboratories were working today to test eight other birds for the
H5N1 virus. John Aglionby in Hanoi, Jo Revill and Lorna Martin
Sunday April 9, 2006 The Observer
- We can beat bird flu if Europe helps the world.
Sunday April 9, 2006 The Observer
- The chance of the bird flu virus mutating into a form that is easily
transmitted from human to human is "very low", the government's top scientific
adviser said yesterday. Sir David King said any suggestion that a global
pandemic among humans is inevitable was "totally misleading". Ian Sample
and agencies
Monday
April 10, 2006 The Guardian
- One dead swan doesn't make a summer of panic. To ward off fears of a bird
flu pandemic in a borderless world, our first rule should be: follow the
science. Jackie Ashley
Monday
April 10, 2006 The Guardian
- Official confirmation that the deadly H5N1 strain avian flu has arrived in
the UK (Avian flu: wild birds, pets and poultry now at risk, April 7) has
sparked a wave of anxiety throughout rural communities across the country,
many of which are yet to recover from the government's mishandling of the 2001
outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Letters
Monday
April 10, 2006 The Guardian
- Fears of a widespread outbreak of bird flu in the UK receded as an
infected swan found in Scotland remained the only confirmed case of the deadly
H5N1 strain. The swan, discovered in Cellardyke, Fife, was the only positive
case of more than 1,100 birds examined since the end of February, officials
said. A spokeswoman for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs said there were currently no "report" cases - those which are
suspected of bird flu and prioritised for testing.
Monday
April 10, 2006 7:53 AM
- The dead swan that tested positive for avian flu after washing up on the
Scottish coast may have contracted the disease in another country and died as
it attempted to migrate across the North Sea. Ian Sample and agencies
Wednesday
April 12, 2006 The Guardian
- Residents welcomed the removal of a quarantine zone imposed after a dead
swan tested positive for bird flu in Scotland. Restrictions on the movement of
poultry products within 1.8 miles of where the bird was found in the east of
Scotland will end at midnight following a decision by the Scottish Executive.
Further controls on the movement of domestic and captive birds will also be
removed on May 1 if there are no further positive tests for the deadly H5N1
strain.
Friday April 21, 2006 7:28 AM
- A poultry worker has contracted the H7 strain of bird flu in the form of
conjunctivitis, the Health Protection Agency confirmed last night. The
affected person is thought to have contracted the infection via close contact
on a
Norfolk farm. James Meikle
Saturday
April 29, 2006 The Guardian
- Government scientists found evidence of bird flu
in poultry in October but did not report their concerns to the public, the
Guardian can reveal. The scientists placed movement restrictions on a bird
rescue centre in
south-west England after finding evidence that 13 free-range geese had
been exposed to an H5 virus, one of two types of virus most likely to become
deadly to birds and a group known to be a health risk to people. The
restrictions, which lasted at least a week until further tests ruled out any
infection, came shortly after the highly dangerous H5N1 strain had been found
in imported birds kept in quarantine. No mention was made of the incident by
the environment department, Defra, either then or during last month's scares
caused by the dead swan at Cellardyke, Fife, which had H5N1, and by the
outbreak of H7N3 on three farms in Norfolk. The incident is referred to in one
paragraph in the annual report on animal health by the government's chief
veterinary officer, Debby Reynolds. The government insisted that it did not
report the incident before because subsequent tests had not confirmed disease.
James Meikle
Thursday May 18, 2006 The Guardian
- New insights into tackling the threat posed by bird flu have been made in
a study into the 1918 flu pandemic, published today. Matt Weaver and
agencies
Thursday September 28, 2006 Guardian Unlimited
- Scientists attack government bird flu planning. Virus has
shown signs of resistance to Tamiflu. Second drug 'should have been
stockpiled'. Some of Britain's top scientists yesterday accused the government
of failing to listen to expert advice in its preparations for a flu pandemic
and of stockpiling a single drug, which might not work, to treat the
population. Over 14m doses of the drug, Tamiflu, have been delivered, but two
leading scientific institutions, the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical
Sciences, say the government should be buying similar quantities of a second
drug, Relenza, as well. Sarah Boseley, health editor
Tuesday
November 21, 2006 The Guardian
- Bird flu alert as 1,000 turkeys found dead in Suffolk.
Bernard Matthews farm calls in vets after outbreak. Preliminary tests
confirm traces of H5 virus. An outbreak of bird flu at a turkey farm in
Suffolk has killed more than 1,000 birds, the Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs said last night.Thair Shaikh
Saturday
February 3, 2007 The Guardian
- What is bird flu? As news breaks that the potentially deadly strain
of bird flu - H5N1 - has been identified in a poultry farm in Suffolk, we
publish an extract from Jo Revill's book, Everything You Need To Know
About Bird Flu. Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a viral disease that
causes illness in many species of birds. It's been around for more than 100
years, and there are 15 different types of it.
Saturday February 3, 2007 Observer.co.uk
- The plague of bird flu will erupt out of Java, not Suffolk. The
west has failed to back up its rhetoric by helping countries that will be on
the front line of any human pandemic. Mike Davis
Wednesday February 7, 2007 The Guardian
- Second worker tested for H5N1 avian flu virus. Doctors monitoring
the 350 people who may have come into contact with turkeys carrying H5N1 avian
flu at the Bernard Matthews factory farm yesterday sent a poultry worker to
hospital for blood tests after he fell ill. It was the second time in two days
that the Health Protection Agency had referred people working at the factory
to a hospital for tests. A government vet who took swabs from turkey throats
reported ill on Tuesday but tested negative yesterday for the virus and was
discharged from Nottingham City hospital. John Vidal, environment editor
Thursday February 8, 2007 The Guardian
- Bird flu outbreak spreads on Suffolk farm. The government was
forced to concede last night that the bird flu outbreak was more widespread
than previously thought after more turkeys at the Bernard Matthews plant in
Suffolk were found to be contaminated with H5N1 and the company admitted that
birds had arrived in the UK from the Hungarian plant hit by the same virus
last month. The infection is being linked to the Suffolk processing plant from
which the company transports meat across Britain. The Observer reported on its
website last night that a consignment of partially processed turkeys had
travelled from Bernard Matthews' Hungarian plant and arrived in the UK a few
days before January 27, when farmworkers began to notice signs of illness in
the turkey chicks in one shed of the farm near Holton, Suffolk. The discovery
of the virus in another three of the 22 sheds in Suffolk crushed hopes that
the infection had been isolated. It also questioned the integrity of the
plant's bio-security. The government denied suggestions that it had sought to
cover up the possibility of infection from Hungary. A spokeswoman for the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said last night:
"There is no delay [in informing the public]. We are making information
available as it comes to light." She said Defra thought the birds had come
from an uninfected part of Hungary, but that test results had changed that
view: "The test results revealed that the strain ... might be identical." John
Vidal, Jo Revill and Dan Bell
Friday February 9, 2007 Guardian
- String of flaws found at Bernard Matthews plant. Government
considering criminal prosecution. Firm was twice warned of lapses by
meat inspectors. The Bernard Matthews plant infected with bird flu had serious
biosecurity shortfalls, a government investigation has found: holes in the
turkey sheds where birds, rats and mice could get in and spread the H5N1
disease, leaking roofs, and uncovered bins where seagulls were seen carrying
off meat waste. It also emerged yesterday that the government is to look at
whether failings at the site constituted a breach of animal by-product
regulations, an offence which carries a maximum of two years in prison. John
Vidal, environment editor
Saturday
February 17, 2007 The Guardian
- Bernard Matthews to escape prosecution. A decision by a government
watchdog not to prosecute the Bernard Matthews plant at the centre of the bird
flu outbreak was described as "astonishing" by the Liberal Democrats
yesterday. Investigators from the Food Standards Agency investigating the
poultry farm in Holton,
Suffolk, said they had thoroughly examined the possibility that food waste
may have been stored wrongly but concluded there was insufficient evidence to
prosecute. Karen McVeigh
Tuesday April 3, 2007 The Guardian
- Experts slam government's flu outbreak plans. Doctors' leaders
today warned that flaws in the government's plans to deal with a flu pandemic
could cause chaos in the event of an outbreak. Senior public health experts
and family doctors said the plan to let local councils and NHS trusts decide
how to deal with a pandemic could lead to some areas not getting drugs to
treat those infected. Dr Richard Coker, of the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, said the government's plan failed to address how scarce
vaccines and anti-viral drugs would be shared out. He raised concern that
giving local authorities too much say over how to respond to a pandemic might
lead to drugs being used up in the first area hit by an outbreak. David Batty
Friday
May 11, 2007 Guardian Unlimited
- Bird flu outbreak confirmed at Welsh farm. An outbreak of bird flu
at a country estate in north
Wales was confirmed today but does not involve the deadly H5N1 strain of
the virus. Christianne Glossop, Wales's chief vet, made the announcement after
tests were carried out at the unnamed farm in Denbighshire. She said the
strain is H7N2 low pathogenic avian influenza, which is different from the
highly pathogenic H5N1 strain currently circulating in Asia. James Orr and
agencies
Thursday May 24, 2007 Guardian Unlimited
- Two tested for bird flu after farm outbreak. Two adults were last
night tested for bird flu after
Welsh authorities confirmed an outbreak on a remote smallholding in north
Wales. However, they reassured the public that this was not the H5N1 strain,
which is potentially deadly to humans and which resulted in 160,000 turkeys
being slaughtered this year in Norfolk. Police cordoned off the road about a
mile from the farmhouse in Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, near Corwen, Denbighshire.
It is understood that all the 45 chickens and two geese on the farm were
slaughtered and everyone entering the site was offered the drug Tamiflu as a
precaution. John Vidal, environment editor
Friday
May 25, 2007 The Guardian
- Bird flu virus confirmed after deaths at Dorset swannery.
Government vets were last night awaiting the results of tests on more dead
birds discovered in southern England, following confirmation that three swans
in
Dorset had the deadly H5N1 flu strain. The environment department, Defra,
said the dead birds had been found at Abbotsbury swannery by routine
surveillance, and efforts were under way to discover where the virus came
from; the outbreak poses little risk to human health. Swannery staff are being
monitored for symptoms and have been given Tamiflu tablets as a precaution.
David Adam and Steven Morris
Friday
January 11, 2008 The Guardian
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