Re: Bird flu news - France and Germany


" Jill" <newsNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:43fed123$0$3636
H5 bird flu virus reported on French turkey farm 24/02/2006 - 08:08:27
The H5 bird flu virus turned up on a turkey farm in south-eastern France,
but it was not immediately clear whether it was the deadly strain,
France's
agriculture minister said today.
Dominique Bussereau said more tests were needed to determine if the case
involved the H5N1 strain. If confirmed, it would be the first time the
disease had spread to poultry stocks in France - the EU's largest poultry
producer.
Yesterday, authorities sealed off a farm with more than 11,000 turkeys in
the south-eastern Ain region, the same area where France's first two cases
of the deadly virus - in two wild ducks - were confirmed.
"The suspicion that we had yesterday, which brought us to first cull the
animals and then destroy them, was unfortunately confirmed this morning,"
Bussereau told France-2 television.

Apparently the Dutch farm minister Cees Veerman seems to be saying that the
NL will concentrate on the vaccination of pet birds and 'back yard flocks'
first, then moving into the larger commercial flocks.

Looking at some EU figures mentioned in the vaccine debate (from Agra Facts)
it seems that vaccination ofcommercial flocks will cost between 0.2 and 0.3
euro per bird, and this covers having a vet give the vaccination, (in some
cases three separate doses over a space of four to six weeks with monthly
checks to follow on.)
State aid may be available to help fund the programme but this will, of
course, depend upon individual member states.

It looks as if the French vaccination plan will involve

pre vaccination examination of flocks
monthly surveillance checks
unvaccinated sentinel birds in the vaccinated flock.
bans on the movement of live vaccinated poultry,hatching eggs and day old
chicks produced by vaccinated poultry to another member state or third
country. Movement of these animals can only be within the member state, to
houldings where vaccinated poultry are separate from unvaccinated poultry,
and to a slaughter house.
Any fresh meat products most comply with these conditions and most come from
a flock inspected by a vet 48hrs before slaughter, packaging and transport
used for vaccinated birds must be washed and disinfected.
They are talking about vaccinating 900,000 ducks and geese that it is not
practical to move inside and will end on April 1st

The Dutch are thinking of a similar scheme

--

Jim Webster.
Pat Gardiner, Five years raving about bent vets and still no result




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