Veterinarian does not have bird flu

Vet tests negative for bird flu

By Andrew Jack, Jenny Wiggins and Fiona Harvey in London,and Chris Condon in Budapest

Published: February 7 2007 02:00 | Last updated: February 7 2007 10:00

A vet called in to deal with the outbreak of bird flu in Suffolk after he was admitted to hospital with what was described as a “mild respiratory illness”, has not been infected with the H5N1 virus, the Health Protection Agency said on Wednesday.

“We are confirming that he has tested negative for avian flu and for normal flu,” a spokeswoman for the agency said. “He will now be treated as a normal patient.” a spokesperson said.

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The European Commission had earlier criticised countries imposing blanket bans on UK poultry, even as fresh import restrictions were announced.

Michael Mann, an EU spokesman, said the embargoes were unjustified after member states agreed that culling and transport restrictions in eastern England and southern Hungary were sufficient precautions. No EU state has imposed bans but some tightened domestic prevention measures.

Ukraine on Tuesday followed Japan, Russia, South Korea and Hong Kong in stopping imports, while other countries including Indonesia, Ireland, Macedonia and Bosnia said they were introducing or considering partial bans.

The action came after the cull of 160,000 birds at the Bernard Matthews turkey farm in Holton triggered by the detection of the H5N1 bird flu virus late last week, while exclusion zones were maintained and investigations continued into the source of infection.

Hungary's agriculture ministry and Bernard Matthews in Hungary said there was no link between the outbreaks in the UK and Hungary, where the company also has operations, and an outbreak was identified at a goose farm in January.

Bernard Matthews owns Saga Food, a meat processing company in western Hungary and about 200km from where the infected geese were discovered.

The ministry said the government had investigated a possible connection but found no evidence of infection or movement of products or personnel between Saga and the Suffolk plant.

The company said it had been co-operating closely with Defra and that there were no jobs at risk.

Meanwhile Indonesia confirmed it was withholding from foreign laboratories samples of the H5N1 virus strains that have killed several people this year.

Jakarta said it would make genetic data available, but in the build-up to a deal with Baxter, the US pharmaceutical group, set to be unveiled today, it would not share virus samples for free.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007