EU calls for calm over UK bird flu

The European commission today told consumers not to panic following the outbreak of bird flu in the UK.

Health commissioner Markos Kyprianou told a news conference the public should hold their nerve following the discovery of the avian flu virus in the country’s poultry industry.

However, the official warned that Europe should expect further similar outbreaks in the future.

The outbreak occurred on a holding of 159,000 turkeys in Suffolk, in the east of England.

Samples tested at the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge confirmed the disease to be the H5N1 strain which has already killed millions of birds, mostly in Asia and Africa.

Kyprianou said the UK authorities are already applying “very strict” EU safety measures in a bid to contain the outbreak.

He said he was confident that "all that has to be done will be done" by the authorities there.

"We have strong legislation to deal with this sort of thing and there is no need to panic," he said. "There is no reason why the virus should enter the food chain."

However, he warned, "This latest outbreak in the UK reminds us that we are still living with this disease and that, in a sense, we may never eradicate it."

He said the situation would be reviewed by the commission’s standing committee on the food chain and animal health on Tuesday.

The UK authorities say that there appeared to be no spread of the virus to other farms inside the 3km protection and 10km surveillance zone.

The incident follows a similar outbreak two weeks ago in Hungary.

UK Tory MEP Neil Parish, newly-elected chairman of parliament's agriculture committee, urged the UK government to "learn the lessons" from the foot and mouth outbreak and not move infected carcasses.

"Although the containers will be sealed, moving carcasses across the country is just  one risk not worth taking.

"This was the first test of our contingency plans and although they seem to have been relatively effective, they clearly still need to be beefed up," said Parish, parliament's lead MEP on bird flu preparations.

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