EU Stages Crisis Talks on Bird Flu ; Experts Ask: Is Britain Ready?

By JASON BEATTIE

EUROPEAN health experts were holding a crisis meeting today on how to stop the spread of the deadly bird flu virus.

The emergency talks came as questions were raised about Britain’s readiness to deal with a flu pandemic.

Those considered to be normally at risk from general influenza – the elderly, children and asthma sufferers – have been advised to see their GP for a winter flu jab.

The Department of Health has 14 million doses of this vaccination – enough to inoculate 25 per cent of the population. But there are concerns that the Government has failed to stockpile sufficient quantities of antiviral drugs to deal with a possible outbreak of the avian flu virus.

The Government’s chief vet, Dr Debby Reynolds, warned that the UK was “at risk” from bird flu following the discovery of the H5N1 strain of the virus in Turkey and Romania.

It is the first time the virus – which has a 50 per cent mortality rate in humans – has been found so close to Britain. Today’s meeting of veterinary surgeons and scientists in Brussels will examine the danger of the virus being spread to other parts of Europe by migratory birds.