The Avian Flu is back in Britain. A case of avian influenza of the H7N7 strain, a highly pathogenic virus in birds, has just been confirmed by health authorities in Great Britain. But the risk to public health would be low. “The food protection agency said there was no risk to consumers in terms of food safety” wanted to reassure the chief veterinarian of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), quoted by AFP.
A 10 kilometer protective perimeter has been deployed around the offending farm in the town of Preston, Great Britain. The poultry are being slaughtered, as a precautionary measure. 170,000 birds should be wiped out.
Bird flu is an infection that can affect almost any species of bird, wild or domestic. But it is most often found in wild birds in which it is very contagious, recalls the Pasteur Institute on its site.
In addition, it can cause extremely high mortality in industrial chicken and turkey farms.
The last case of H7N7 bird flu was in February and was detected on a farm in southern England.
Another strain of the virus, H5N8, has been identified since early November 2014 in Germany and in the Nederlands. Thousands of poultry were then slaughtered.
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