Bird Flu In Scotland - Is it the deadly strain ?

[Polecat]

Breaking News: http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...517468,00.html

[Polecat]

Preliminary tests have found the H5 avian flu in a sample from a swan found dead in Fife, health officials have revealed.
The exact strain of the virus is not yet known, but tests were continuing and further results were expected on Thursday.

The Scottish Executive said the area was being sealed off.

If the disease is confirmed as the deadly H5N1 strain there may be further restrictions put in place.

From the BBC

[matt_xyz]

now the media hysteria will resume. They've been waiting for this for weeks.

Matt

[Boddie]

my guy on the news reckons its H5N1. says he'd have money on it. price of poultry is likely to plummett. as if the farmers don't have enough to worry about

[Wild-Woman]

The media thrives on bad news. It's what sells papers nowadays. I'm certainly not going to get hysterical over it. Going out to feed them right now. :-)

[carlj]

Don't think government agencies help by over reacting. Wonder if DeFra will implement bird boycotting - twitchers to be held in detention camps, RAF taking out migrant birds trying to return to the country. Ok, a little flippant, but we know from foot and mouth how our beloved leaders tend to react.

[StuartDH]

It looks as though the bird was discovered on the 29 March and it was already very emaciated. The next job is to try and find out if it was a Bewick, Whooper or Mute swan to help get some idea of where it came from.

Defra are due to announce if it is H5N1 at 10am this morning.

[MalcolmX]

i find all this hysteria by the media totally without foundation . i own an established collection of wildfowl (40+birds) all enclosed . the chances of any diseases let alone bird flu getting in are very remote . i do not welcome hysterical neighbours trying to get me to kill these birds if the gov or the media start to panic . all the cases seem to be in migratory birds and i have yet to work out how these birds get to chickens ,how the flue gets to humans (giving the way we keep birds in the UK ) and if it gets to humans will it mutate to a killer strain . it seems all the victims live in poverty and spent a lot of time with dead birds so was it bird flue or was it a different virus named bird flue to fuel the media hype and government desire to totally control us all
I await further news.

[carlj]

Latest info is tomorrow before confirmation on strain.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2006/060405c.htm

[StuartDH]

It has now been confirmed as H5N1. The news seem to be keeping quite a level head and giving the experts plenty of opportunity to let everyone know that they shouldn't start worrying...let's hope tomorrow's tabloids can do the same.

[John]

Originally Posted by StuartDH

It looks as though the bird was discovered on the 29 March and it was already very emaciated. The next job is to try and find out if it was a Bewick, Whooper or Mute swan to help get some idea of where it came from.

Defra are due to announce if it is H5N1 at 10am this morning.

Listening to one expert this morning the swan isn't the bird that brought it in but has caught it from a migrating bird, possibly a goose. The search is on for that bird as that is the real danger.

I just hope the Britsh public don't get caught up in all this media hype. It is so ridiculous to go overboard about a subject where millions of birds have been infected around the world but only 90 human deaths have been recorded, and those are in conditions that are not present in this country, i.e having continual close contact with chickens, as has been recorded where these deaths have taken place.

John

[carlj]

No doubt the sun page 3 stunna will have some sage words of wisdom regarding it. In terms of the figures, 100 deaths in 3 years, it's comparable to deaths by tractors in mississippi. Yes, scientists are concerned about mutations (unless they can create their own), but in terms of what has happened today, there's no need to panic or overreact.

[digi]

On my morning walk today I came across a dead Canada Goose floating with its head underwater. Its mate was standing close by no sign of a struggle and the goose was not that old. I contacted the local Police and they took my details and asked me to contact DEFRA.

DEFRA where very helpful and confirmed they needed to know about all single dead Swans, Geese or Ducks.

[carlj]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4898398.stm
Seems that the bird was a migrant, and also that it may have washed up on these shores

[digi]

I went to check the park where I found the dead Canada Goose and DEFRA had been and collected it. They still want to know about any dead Swans, Geese or Ducks.