01/02/2008

Bird Flu Alert As More Swans Die

There's another 'flap' on this weekend with news that two more wild swans have been found dead on a reserve in the Dorset area.

Both have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

A total of nine swans have now been found dead in the Chesil Beach area after contracting the virus.

Officials say there could be further cases in the coming weeks.

Earlier this week an epidemiology report said the highly virulent strain was most likely to have been introduced by an infected migratory bird and was similar to that found in Europe late last year.

Restrictions on the movement of poultry and wild birds within a 10-kilometre radius of the swannery have been lifted but limits still apply within a three-kilometre zone.

Britain’s first case of this deadly strain of bird flu, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003, was in a dead swan found in a Scottish fishing village in 2006.

(BMcC)




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