The
Department of Health
is reassuring the public, all poultry keepers and those involved in
the slaughter of the 159,000 turkeys that the risk of contracting
the H5N1 strain of avian influenza is negligible.
A spokesperson for
the DoH told Farmers
Weekly that the risk of infection was so low that only those
“incredibly close” to the infected birds were at risk.
“Even then you
would have to be drinking infected blood or eating infected faeces
to be at risk,” said the spokesperson.
But, it is taking few chances. By
the time the cull finished on Tuesday morning (6 February) those
involved in the slaughter and disposal of the birds had received
the seasonal flu vaccination as a precaution and the majority had
also received the antiviral drug
Tamiflu.
And, as a further precaution, all
poultry keepers have been offered the seasonal flu vaccination.
The DoH has also stockpiled 14.6m doses of Tamiflu – enough to
treat a quarter of the population – at a cost of £120m as well as
3.7m doses of H5N1 vaccine.
The H5N1 supplies
may be used to conduct further research on the immune responses
generated by these vaccines. In the event of a pandemic, these
stocks could be used to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers
(such as nurses) before a specific pandemic vaccine can be
developed.
Health officials
fear that if an individual were to contract the seasonal form of
the virus and then come in to contact with the H5N1 strain it could
mutate in to one easily transferable between humans initiating a
pandemic.
Currently the
disease is not easily transferred between humans and the 165 people
known to have died from it are believed to have contracted it from
working closely with infected animals – notably infected
faeces.
By chance the DoH,
Home Office and
DEFRA held a mock response
exercise last week to evaluate its contingency plans. “It was pure
fortuitous timing on our behalf,” said the DoH spokesperson.
Called Winter Willow the event was the basis for a dry-run
of the government’s response to an outbreak of avian flu. The
concluding part is planned to take place later this month.
The DoH has also
drawn up and offered contracts to drug manufacturers to deliver
sufficient vaccine to treat the population of the UK once the human
form of the virus becomes established.
“Much of this is
supposition as we don’t know which strain will develop, but what we
are dong is getting all our ducks in a line in preparation,” said
the spokesperson.
“The extent of our
preparation was recognised by a World Health Organisation report
that concluded the UK was at the forefront in its preparations to
deal with an outbreak of the human form of H5N1,” added the
spokesman.
For more information on the avian
flu outbreak see
Avian flu: UK special report.
For Poultry World editor Richard
Allison’s take on the media messages coming through about the avian
flu outbreak see the
Food For
Thought blog.