H5 Norfolk Outbreak Linked to Wild Birds
Recombinomics Commentary
November 12, 2007
The disease was discovered on Sunday by a vet who noticed that there had been a growing number of turkey deaths in one of the five sheds on the Norfolk farm.
about 60 turkeys in a flock of 1,000 had tested positive. The alarm had been raised on Sunday after a rise in death rates.
Veterinary experts believe wild birds are the most likely cause of the disease — especially as a consignment of birds has not been brought to the farm for four weeks, and wild birds gather at a lake near the farm.
The above comments provide additional data supporting Qinghai H5N1 infections of Norfolk poultry via wild birds. The sudden deaths raised concerns, and the H5 positive birds strongly suggested that the deaths were due to highly pathogenic H5N1.
All recent H5N1 high path infections west of China have been the Qinghai version of H5N1, including dead and dying wild birds. The most recent reported outbreaks in wild birds in Germany over the summer. H5N1 was also found in smaller outbreaks in France and the Czech Republic, signaling more outbreaks in the fall.
The lack of movement of birds to the farm, coupled with the farms proximity to the nearby lake strongly suggest that the free range birds on the farm were infected by wild birds in the region.
These data strongly suggest that confirmation of Qinghai H5N1 will be announced shortly.
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