Bird flu found in quarantined parrot

Bird flu has been found in a parrot which died in quarantine in the UK.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs confirmed that the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of Avian Influenza virus was present in a dead parrot from a quarantine facility in Essex.

The discovery has prompted further calls to ban all live bird imports into the UK. EU officials are to due to meet to discuss an EU ban on import of live birds.

Instructions to the State Veterinary Service issued by Defra today say that for the time being no birds currently held in quarantine will be released until a case by case risk assessment is carried out. Release of birds following assessment will depend upon a further review of laboratory results and checks on import documentation.

Defra has reviewed its overall risk assessment of the threat posed by highly pathogenic Avian Influenza. In light of the recent cases in China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkey, and Romania it concludes that there is a high risk of further global dispersion.

The UK, like other countries, needs to increase its vigilance to match this increased global risk. Ministers have also pressed the European Commission for a EU-wide ban on the importation of wild birds.

Chief Vet Debby Reynolds said: "We are now closer to reaching a conclusion on this investigation. We have established that the strain of the virus is H5N1. This does not affect the UK's official Avian Influenza disease-free status.

"Our working hypothesis is that any infection in the birds from Surinam is likely to have arisen in the quarantine system, most likely in the facility in Essex where the Surinam birds shared airspace with the birds from Taiwan. There are more tests underway on the birds from Taiwan because we have established that some of them died before October 16.

"Defra has issued instructions to the State Veterinary Service to ensure that a case by case risk assessment is carried out on all birds currently being held in quarantine. We will also be talking urgently to stakeholders about restricting bird markets, fairs and shows."

According to government scientists the closest match is a strain identified in ducks in China earlier this year, but it differs from strains found in Romania and Turkey, and is not a strain that the Veterinary Laboratory Agency has seen before.

(SP/KMcA)