Urgent measures to prevent spread of bird flu from Nafferton Farm
Farmers around the country have been warned to be on alert after at least one case of the virus was confirmed at a duck breeding farm in the Driffield area of East Yorkshire.
A 10km restriction zone has been put in place and all poultry on the farm is being culled in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.
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Hide AdChief veterinary officer Nigel Gibbens said more cases could follow.
He said: “We cannot rule out that there might be further cases; this is why we put premises under restriction to look for further spread.
“Because there’s a wild bird risk we also need farmers and their vets all over the country to be alert to possible disease in their farm that they can’t explain, draw those to our attention so we can investigate quickly, and, if there is any more disease, seek to nip that in the bud as well.”
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed the outbreak it is investigating is the H5 virus, but ruled out the H5N1 strain, which has caused deaths in humans.
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Hide AdThe last reported case of H5N1 was in 2008. A few instances of bird flu have been detected in poultry farms since then but none has involved the more dangerous H5 or H7 strains.