H5N1 Confirmed on Second Suffolk Farm
Recombinomics Commentary
November 19, 2007
"It appears the infection has been caught early because when the birds were inspected they appeared to be clinically healthy," she added.
Defra announced last week it was culling turkeys at four sites which shared the same workforce as the Redgrave Park farm on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk where the original case was confirmed on November 13.
Redgrave Poultry, which operates all five farms, said a small number of turkey culled at Hill Meadow farm in Knettishall, Norfolk had tested positive. The farm had 9,000 turkeys and is located just a few miles from Redgrave Park.
The company said culls had now been completed at all five farms. Results are still awaited from two of the sites.
The above comments confirm H5N1 at a second Suffolk farm, which creates a new restricted zone that extends into Norfolk. The lack of symptoms in the positive birds increases the likelihood of detecting H5N1 in the other two farms as well as adjacent farms, because the infections were recent and birds, including waterfowl, have not developed symptoms.
The sequence of the positives point toward a wild bird source because they are similar to wild bird H5N1 from the Czech Republic, Germany, France, and linked to wild bird isolates from Uva Lake in Mongolia which died during a massive outbreak in Mongolia and Tyva in the summer of 2006. Moreover, no evidence of bird flu was found at the Netherlands hatchery which had provided chicks to the owners of the infected turkeys.
Test results on the additional suspect farms, as well as neighboring farms would be useful to define the extent of the outbreak.
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