Bird flu update
15 November 2007
| Key facts |
- Bird flu is chiefly a disease of birds. It doesn't spread easily from birds to humans.
- The only people who have become infected with the virus so far have been in direct contact, for an extended length of time, with infected poultry or areas contaminated with infected faeces.
- There is no danger of becoming infected by eating poultry or eggs, so long as they have been cooked properly.
- Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) works against the human form of flu. It won't prevent you from getting flu but it can reduce the amount of the virus in your body. The World Health Organization recommends oseltamivir as the best treatment for people who have been exposed to H5N1.
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The outbreak of bird flu at a farm in Suffolk has been confirmed as the H5N1 strain of the disease.
At the moment, it's not known what caused the birds at Redgrave Park Farm in Diss to become infected. The government are investigating possible sources of the disease, including the chance that it could have been brought onto the farm by a wild bird. The farm is free range, which means that the birds spend more time out of doors and are therefore more at risk of infection.
All the 6,500 remaining birds at the site, including turkeys, ducks and geese, are being culled. This is because H5N1 can spread very easily between birds. The government have also set up a protection zone of 3km around the farm and a surveillance zone of 10km. No poultry can be moved into or out of this area. Checks are also taking place to see if the disease has spread to other areas nearby.
The workers at the farm and anyone going there have all been given the anti-flu medicine oseltamivir (Tamiflu). However, the Health Protection Agency has said that the risk of anyone having been infected with the disease is very low.
There are lots of different types of bird flu, also called avian flu (avian relates to birds and flu is the usual term for influenza). These range from being not very dangerous to extremely harmful, such as the H5 sub-types. There are nine variations of H5 and again each of these differs in severity. H5N1 is one of these and originated in Asia. The Department of Health describes H5N1 as "highly pathogenic". This means that it causes disease very easily.
Many wild birds that migrate carry the virus naturally and do not usually develop the disease. However, if a bird native to the UK is infected, they are more likely to become ill.
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