Bird Flu found in wild birds in 3 separate areas in the UK
2 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Dead wild birds in three different areas of the UK have tested positive for the dangerous H5N8 strain of bird flu.
On Friday, chief veterinary officer Nigel Gibbens confirmed cases of the H5N8 bird flu in Somerset and Leicestershire, while the Scottish Government confirmed the disease was found in a wild peregrine falcon in Dumfries and Galloway.
It comes after the Welsh Government on Thursday confirmed a case of the virus in a dead wild wigeon in Camarthenshire. And on December 16, Defra confirmed H5N8 had been identified in turkeys on a poultry farm near Louth in Lincolnshire. Those birds which had not already died were culled to limit the spread of disease.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.itv.com/news/update/2016-12-23/avian-flu-found-in-dead-birds-in-three-new-areas-of-uk/[/url]
[QUOTE]Three wild birds in Scotland and England have tested positive for a dangerous strain of bird flu. A dead wild peregrine falcon in Dumfries and Galloway and two dead wild wigeons from Somerset and Leicestershire were all confirmed as having H5N8 avian influenza, officials said on Friday.
The latest cases come a day after a dead wild duck in Wales was found to have the same dangerous strain of the disease, a highly-pathogenic H5N8 strain of avian flu that was found in a turkey farm in Lincolnshire last week and has been circulating in Europe.
A temporary ban on events involving gatherings of poultry including chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese such as auctions and livestock fairs has been imposed across England, Scotland and Wales to prevent spread of the disease.
A prevention zone is also in place, which requires keepers of poultry and other captive birds to keep them inside or take appropriate steps to keep them separate, and protect them, from wild birds. Experts have said the threat to public health from the virus is very low.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-wild-peregrine-falcon-tests-positive-for-bird-flu-1-4325103[/url]
Bit more information about this subtype: [url]http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/avian_influenza/riskassessment_AH5N8_201611/en/[/url]
There was a fairly local outbreak in the US with a different avian strain of influenza. Ended up hurting egg prices pretty hard for a while. It may not be a threat to public health, but those diseases can have some nasty consequences.
I can only wonder about the ecological impact such a disease could have.
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