The government has announced an outbreak of bird flu on a chicken farm in Dereham, Norfolk.  

Current information from Defra suggests that this is an H7 virus, and that it is likely to be a low pathogenicity form of the disease. If so, it is a different disease to the H5N1 virus found in the dead whooper swan at Cellardyke. Low pathogenicity would mean that it will not be as virulent as a high pathogenicity virus. There have…

Government officials today confirmed that the H5N1 positive swan discovered in Cellardyke, Scotland was a whooper swan, not as previously thought a mute swan.

Initial identification had been hampered by the advanced state of decay of the carcass and the species was only confirmed through DNA profiling.

Whooper swans are migratory. The Icelandic breeding population winters in north-west Europe, including Britain and Ireland…

The Scottish Executive has now set up a 3km 'protection zone' around Cellardyke, where the dead swan was found, and a 10 km 'surveillance zone' around that. The Scottish Executive have also set up a 2,500 sq km ‘wild bird risk area’, stretching along the East coast, around the site of the outbreak. Within these three areas, all poultry are to be brought indoors, and there will be increased surveillance…

Government sources confirmed today that the virus isolated from the dead swan in Fife, east Scotland was the Highly Pathogenic H5N1 type.

It is stressed that this is a disease of birds and it is extremely difficult for humans to contract it. Nevertheless, you are advised not to touch any sick or dead birds. It is extremely unlikely that avian influenza could be transmitted to people by feeding birds in the garden, but…

The Government has announced that Highly Pathogenic H5 avian influenza was confirmed in the UK on 5 April 2006. Confirmation of the 'N' type is expected shortly. The virus was detected in a dead mute swan near Anstruther in Fife, East Scotland.

This discovery was not unexpected, especially after the severe weather movements of birds from the Baltic region in the week beginning 13 February, which brought the virus…

Spring migrants are arriving in the UK, and the breeding season is getting underway. The RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust are issuing clear advice to inform the public, and to counter some of the concerns that have understandably developed as a result of the coverage of the spread of bird flu (H5N1) in recent weeks. Knowing the facts will help to reassure those who enjoy feeding…

This page will keep you up-to-date with the movement of bird flu and how it affects the UK.

As of today (16 March 2006) the unusually virulent strain of avian influenza known as H5N1 has spread to Europe from south-east Asia. There have been numerous outbreaks, mainly in poultry, in a number of countries in Asia and Africa. Since mid-February, there have been a number of cases in wild birds in the EU, predominantly mute…