More H5N1 Dead Mute Swans in England Likely
Recombinomics Commentary 02:02
January 11, 2008
Routine tests are being carried out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on two birds found at or near the reserve on Tuesday.
A Defra spokesman said: "As soon as results are available, these will be published as an information note."
One of the two was found in the same nesting area at Abbotsbury where the first three swans were discovered, while the second was found at Little Bredy, about three miles away. It is possible it hit power lines, the swannery said.
Two dead swans were also found miles apart at opposite ends of the Fleet lagoon on Thursday night, John Houston, general manager at Abbotsbury Tourism Ltd said and two more dead swans were found on Friday afternoon at separate locations along the Fleet lagoon.
The above comments suggest more H5N1 positive swans will be announced shortly. The detail on the first three H5N1 confirmed swans (see satellite map for details and locations) were collected over an several days, and one had been euthanized for a broken leg, indicating it was asymptomatic and the number of infected mute swans could be markedly higher than the number dead. Moreover, the spread in the dates of death also indicate the swans are being infected over an extended time period.
That possibility is supported by the dead swans collected this week, as well as the bicentric shape of the surveillance area. Although swans die in the dead of winter, the temperature on the south England coast has been mild in recent days.
The deaths have also led to an alert being issued by France. It is likely that H5N1 has spread throughout Europe, and those countries not reporting H5N1 have a poor surveillance system.
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