A government vet is seen at the Suffolk farm on which a bird flu outbreak was confirmed this weekend. Photograph: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images
Ben Bradshaw, the Defra minister responsible dealing with the bird flu outbreak at a Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk, admitted being surprised that H5N1 should turn up in eight-week-old turkeys raised indoors when he appeared on the BBC's Today programme this morning.
Most bird flu cases in the Far East have affected free-range birds that routinely mix with wild birds (believed by many to be the main transmitters of the disease) rather than those intensively reared, Mr Bradshaw said.
"Factory farms tend to have very good biosecurity," he added. "It is somewhat surprising that the disease has started in this particular flock of Bernard Matthews birds, and of course we are exploring very carefully what the possible avenues for infection might have been."
Today's Guardian reports that Defra scientists are looking for connections between the Suffolk farm and the Matthews-owned Saga Foods in Hungary. A number of Hungarian bird flu cases reported over the past month are the same H5N1 strain as that found in Suffolk.
Mr Bradshaw said he was "satisfied that everybody has moved as quickly as possible" after concerns were voiced about the time it took between the first deaths on Tuesday and the confirmation of H5N1 on Saturday.
Death levels on Tuesday and Wednesday were "nothing out of the ordinary", and it was only on Thursday, when 800 turkeys died, that the State Veterinary Service was notified.
Responding to complaints from some local poultry smallholders about the lack of contact from Defra, Mr Bradshaw said there was "an awful lot" of information out there, both in the media and on his department's website.
Specialist forums, many set up during last year's Cellardyke outbreak, have sprung into life again.
On the Practical Poultry forum, Welliebird is wondering whether it's a coincidence that H5N1 emerged just as Tony Blair was fighting to save his premiership after being interviewed by police for a second time.
What's your response to the bird flu outbreak? Will you stop buying poultry as a result? Have your say in the comments below.
