Bird flu discovered by chance
- From: "Pat Gardiner" <patgardiner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 13:35:26 +0000 (UTC)
Pat's Note: So much for the much vaunted quarantine system! The usual SVS
cover-up.
I wonder when the government will pluch up the courage to stand them down?
I asked Scudamore to get the police in nearly five years ago. He refused.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article328281.ece
Bird flu at quarantine centre was discovered only by chance
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 21 November 2005
Ministers tried to cover up the true scale of the fiasco surrounding an
outbreak of deadly bird flu at a private quarantine facility in Essex.
An investigation by The Independent has found that the discovery of the H5N1
strain of avian influenza at the centre occurred by chance. Senior officials
and ministers had implied the find was madebecause of scientific
thoroughness.
It has emerged that measures designed to alert veterinary authorities to the
presence of avian flu failed and it was only the fortuitous death of a
parrot from other causes that led to the truth being uncovered.
Ben Bradshaw, the Animal Welfare minister, Margaret Beckett, the Secretary
of State for the Environment, and Debby Reynolds, the chief veterinary
officer, have all failed to explain how close Britain came to having bird
flu within its borders without officials knowing it.
Healthy "sentinel" chickens kept in the quarantine facility and breathing
the same air as the exotic cage birds were supposed to contract avian flu if
any of the imported stock were infected. However, the sentinel hens remained
uninfected.
Instead, it was the coincidental death of a South American parrot that
alerted the authorities to the presence of the H5N1 virus in a separate
consignment of mesia finches from Taiwan.
The Independent has established that more than 50 finches had already died
in the facility more than seven days before the keepers or veterinary
inspectors decided to test a single dead mesia for bird flu.
The only reason for testing the Taiwanese finch was because the more
valuable blue-headed pionus parrot from Surinam had died on the same day as
the mesia, 14 October, more than a week after the 52 other mesias had died.
Instead of suspecting avian flu, the vets and bird keepers attributed the
deaths of the 52 mesia finches to poor nutrition or diet, according to an
official report into the outbreak.
If the parrot had not died on the same day as the 53rd mesia, it is almost
certain that this last finch to die of bird flu would never have been tested
and Britain would never have known about the outbreak of the deadly H5N1
virus.
"It now seems clear that the discovery of birds infected with avian flu was
more a matter of luck than judgement," said Norman Baker, the Liberal
Democrat spokesman on the environment.
"Had it not been for the coincidence of a dead parrot, infected birds may
well have been allowed out of quarantine. The quarantine system, far from
being watertight, now looks more like a collander. Ministers have some
serious explaining to do," Mr Baker said.
Sparce details of the chance events that led to the detection of the H5N1 at
the Essex facility are documented in the official report published last week
by a body of experts called the National Emergency Epidemiology Group.
When Mrs Beckett, Mr Bradshaw and Dr Reynolds launched the report last
Tuesday, they implied that it was good news that the "sentinel" chickens had
not become infected.
Dr Reynolds said that the case showed that Britain's quarantine system
worked. "This report contains significant epidemiological findings and helps
to further our understanding of highly pathogenic avian influenza. In
particular, the apparent lack of transmission of H5N1 between species in the
facility will be of interest to the international community."
A Defra spokesman said that even though the sentinel hens had failed to warn
of the presence of H5N1, the quarantine regime would still have caught the
virus. "Even if the parrot had not died, the mesias had and would have been
tested," he said.
Ministers tried to cover up the true scale of the fiasco surrounding an
outbreak of deadly bird flu at a private quarantine facility in Essex.
An investigation by The Independent has found that the discovery of the H5N1
strain of avian influenza at the centre occurred by chance. Senior officials
and ministers had implied the find was madebecause of scientific
thoroughness.
It has emerged that measures designed to alert veterinary authorities to the
presence of avian flu failed and it was only the fortuitous death of a
parrot from other causes that led to the truth being uncovered.
Ben Bradshaw, the Animal Welfare minister, Margaret Beckett, the Secretary
of State for the Environment, and Debby Reynolds, the chief veterinary
officer, have all failed to explain how close Britain came to having bird
flu within its borders without officials knowing it.
Healthy "sentinel" chickens kept in the quarantine facility and breathing
the same air as the exotic cage birds were supposed to contract avian flu if
any of the imported stock were infected. However, the sentinel hens remained
uninfected.
Instead, it was the coincidental death of a South American parrot that
alerted the authorities to the presence of the H5N1 virus in a separate
consignment of mesia finches from Taiwan.
The Independent has established that more than 50 finches had already died
in the facility more than seven days before the keepers or veterinary
inspectors decided to test a single dead mesia for bird flu.
The only reason for testing the Taiwanese finch was because the more
valuable blue-headed pionus parrot from Surinam had died on the same day as
the mesia, 14 October, more than a week after the 52 other mesias had died.
Instead of suspecting avian flu, the vets and bird keepers attributed the
deaths of the 52 mesia finches to poor nutrition or diet, according to an
official report into the outbreak.
If the parrot had not died on the same day as the 53rd mesia, it is almost
certain that this last finch to die of bird flu would never have been tested
and Britain would never have known about the outbreak of the deadly H5N1
virus.
"It now seems clear that the discovery of birds infected with avian flu was
more a matter of luck than judgement," said Norman Baker, the Liberal
Democrat spokesman on the environment.
"Had it not been for the coincidence of a dead parrot, infected birds may
well have been allowed out of quarantine. The quarantine system, far from
being watertight, now looks more like a collander. Ministers have some
serious explaining to do," Mr Baker said.
Sparce details of the chance events that led to the detection of the H5N1 at
the Essex facility are documented in the official report published last week
by a body of experts called the National Emergency Epidemiology Group.
When Mrs Beckett, Mr Bradshaw and Dr Reynolds launched the report last
Tuesday, they implied that it was good news that the "sentinel" chickens had
not become infected.
Dr Reynolds said that the case showed that Britain's quarantine system
worked. "This report contains significant epidemiological findings and helps
to further our understanding of highly pathogenic avian influenza. In
particular, the apparent lack of transmission of H5N1 between species in the
facility will be of interest to the international community."
A Defra spokesman said that even though the sentinel hens had failed to warn
of the presence of H5N1, the quarantine regime would still have caught the
virus. "Even if the parrot had not died, the mesias had and would have been
tested," he said.
.
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