Bird Flu Seen Spreading in Poultry
By David Evans
PARIS — Avian flu, which last week hit a French farm, will probably spread to domestic flocks in other European states and fears over the virus will curb global poultry consumption this year, experts said on Tuesday.
The warnings came as Sweden became the latest country to report an outbreak of bird flu. Two wild ducks found dead on the Baltic coast had an aggressive form of bird flu and officials said it was likely to be confirmed as the feared H5N1 strain.
Birds from East African neighbors Kenya and Ethiopia were being tested for H5N1, which can also infect humans, as the virus extends its rapid spread around the globe.
"The spread of the infection to domestic poultry in other European and neighboring countries is highly likely and may even be made worse by the arrival in Europe of possibly infected birds from Africa and the Middle East next spring," the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said.
France, Europe’s biggest poultry producer, has confirmed the first outbreak of H5N1 at a farm in the European Union. The news has prompted 20 countries to ban French poultry.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned the crisis would depress demand for poultry and hit prices.
"The U.N. agency expects poultry consumption shocks in many countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa that have been hit by the avian influenza," it said in a statement.
"Poultry prices are expected to continue declining, threatening industry profitability around the world," it added, cutting its estimate for global consumption by around 3 million tonnes to 81.8 million tonnes this year.
SWEDEN HIT
Cases in wild birds have appeared across Europe, the latest in Sweden which said on Tuesday it had detected its first cases of an "aggressive form of bird flu" — though it was not yet confirmed as the deadly H5N1 strain — in two wild ducks.
Animal health authorities said the strain of flu found in the two wild birds near the southeastern port of Oskarshamn seemed to be the same one detected in countries already hit by outbreaks of H5N1, but they could not yet confirm this.
The H5N1 virus has been detected in around 20 new countries over the past month alone, crossing into Europe and Africa. The virus is endemic in birds across parts of Asia.
It has led to the culling or deaths of some 200 million birds since late 2003. In poultry flocks it can cause sudden severe disease, rapid contagion and a mortality rate that can approach 100 percent within 48 hours.
Although essentially an animal disease, humans can contract the virus through direct contact with sick poultry. Bird flu is known to have killed at least 93 people.
The real fear for humans is that the virus will mutate into a form which passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.
There is no threat to human health from eating properly cooked poultry and some experts have said bans on poultry imports are an overreaction.
"Countries have far exceeded what is science-based and they have further complicated the losses to the industry," Alex Thiermann, president of the standard-setting committee for the OIE, told a meeting of avian influenza experts, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Britain, a short ferry ride from France, was warned that bird flu could become firmly established on its shores.
"I would anticipate that avian flu will arrive at some point in the UK," the government’s chief scientific adviser, Professor David King, told BBC news.
"We also have to anticipate that it will be here for five years-plus. We are talking about the possibility of this disease being endemic here in the UK," he said.
(Additional reporting by Niklas Pollard and Simon Johnson in Stockholm, Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa, Silvia Aloisi in Rome and Paul Majendie in London))