The mess up at the Bernard Matthews H5N1 infected turkey farm just gets worse by the day.
Health officials are urgently investigating fears that the disposal of contaminated waste from the Bernard Matthews plant at the centre of the bird flu outbreak may have allowed the virus to spread to other parts of the country.Experts fear that meat and packaging contaminated with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus from the Bernard Matthews processing plant at Holton, Suffolk, may have found its way on to landfill sites, where wild birds might become infected. Meat carrying the virus could also have been used to make pet food, increasing the risk of the disease's spread.
[snip]
A report into the source of the outbreak . . . states that waste meat trimmings were left in open bins outside the plant, where flocks of gulls were seen picking through scraps. It is believed the gulls carried the virus to their roosts on top of the turkey sheds on the farm, passing the infection to the birds inside.
Neither Bernard Matthews nor Government officials investigating the outbreak have been able to say where or how the remaining waste from the bins was disposed of. (The Telegraph [UK])
So the virus has all been contained. Except for the stuff that was sent back to Hungary, got into the food chain, might be in pet food (don't worry; just dogs and cats), and is being air freighted around on the Wild Gull Express.
Colin Butter, a bird flu expert at the Institute of Animal Health, said: "The virus could survive for several days and even weeks in cold, damp conditions.
"The disposal of any waste from this plant is of concern. We need to know if the virus has got into the gull population, as there is the risk they could infect other birds and spread the virus further."
[snip]
A spokesman for Defra confirmed that the department was investigating the risk of the plant's waste spreading the virus to other parts of the country. She said: "The epidemiological investigation is ongoing. Investigations are naturally concerned with the possible transmission of infection to other premises. During the investigation for the Suffolk outbreak, ornithologists visited the only landfill site in the surveillance zone at Wangford Common, which is almost due east of the infected premises. At this site there was very good bird control, normally via falconry.
"There have been no positive results of H5N1 avian influenza in wild birds to date."
Of course we "need to know." And they are checking it out. Aren't they?
Fred Landeg, the Government's deputy chief vet, admitted at the launch of the report that there was a "risk" that gulls could have picked up the virus from infected meat in a bin, and be spreading it around the countryside. He added that this was a reason "why we are carrying out additional surveillance of wild birds".
Another official report, published at the same time, said the surveillance programme "has been enhanced in the locality of the Suffolk outbreak". And Defra added: "Extensive surveillance from the infected premises and the surrounding area has not isolated any trace of H5N1 in wild birds."
Yet when asked for details by The Independent on Sunday, Defra admitted: "There is no live bird sampling in Suffolk." The nearest was being done at Welney in Norfolk, some 50 miles away.
Testing live birds is important, experts agree, because many carry the virus without it killing them, and it is those individuals that are most likely to spread it around the country or to other poultry farms.
In all, investigators have only tested some 93 dead wild birds from the area since the beginning of the month; so far none has been found to be infected. (The Independent; hat tip, Karen)
Lovely. Just lovely.
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I'd like to say "Unbelievable!", but it's not unbelievable. It's almost predictable.
Everything about H5N1 points to the importance of knowing where your food comes from and maintaining local food producers.
now, that's England.
Imagine how it goes in China,Indonesia.
Yet not many sick people.
And they can't even figure out how normal flu
or cold spreads, so what can we expect from H5N1 ?
But didn't Defra et al. just say that the meat had been delivered all over for over a month? Or what did they mean?:
http://penumbra-of-pandemia.blogspot.com/2007/02/english-cuisine-turkey…
Given the many false negatives and a desire NOT to find human H5N1 on the part of many I would guess that there is much more out there than we know. Not a peep from China this year - did they succeed in wiping it out or succeed in wiping out any news? We heard that the one vet at Bernard Matthews who got sick wasn't H5N1, and we heard that 1 or 2 others were sick, but have we heard whether those others we H5N1 free or not. I don't remember seeing it - does anyone else?
There would be very few professionals in related fields who would be surprised by any aspect of this event.
Tom, for once I agree. It is absolutely depressing, the UK government's track record of 'managing' disease outbreaks of any kind.
When the foot-and-mouth outbreak started in 2000, I watched the disease unfold everyday on TV. By the time 3 different sites were infected in different parts of the country, I was saying, why are they not stopping all movement of cattle. Well, they didn't. Until it was everywhere, of course.
Then they started all these mass slaughters. At the end of the outbreak 6 million animals had been slaughtered, tonnes of dioxin was generated as a result of the (incomplete) burning of carcassing using chemically treated railway sleepers that should never have been used. Between 2 - 4 billion pounds were lost from the economy.
Then someone dug up the enquiry from the 1967 outbreak, and lo and behold, turns out that the experts' recommendation after that last outbreak was not mass culling, but vaccination.
If only they had looked at the report 6 million deaths before...
I have zero confidence in their ability to deal with disease outbreaks, animals or human.
SusanC-Well you have to give them their own stupids. Article from last years L. Times said that they had come up with this big plan on how to dispose of dead birds.... They went into this intricate little program of gloves, mask, trash bag turned inside out. And then what? They told the people to dispose of it in the rubbish bin. Trash can for you Yanks out there. Where does it go? To a dump, where pigeons, rats, gulls, hawks, eagles, falcons, dogs, cats, ferrets, possum did I leave anyone out? Anyways, this is from your UK group of scientific rejects. We got the Gerberdinator at CDC, they'll probably say that the bird is safe to eat if you cook it long enough and supplies are low.
Relax... embrace the horror.
No can do, MRK. Don't seem possible to relax.
..."Wangford Common, which is almost due east of the infected premises.
At this site there was very good bird control, normally via falconry"...
So; whose falcons are getting sick?
We don't test live birds - tear up your paychecks and go home!
what a world, what a world...
Why can't those wild animals and birds just stick to their own ecosystem and leave us humans alone?
"... intricate little program of gloves, mask, trash bag turned inside out ... rubbish bin."
Security Theatre. Zero intention to contain the biohazard.
The idea is to contain the biohazard until it's off-premises. Then you can blame wild birds, home flocks, whatever. Get rid of the evidence, then pose as the helpless victim.
Revere, I have a question. If a business stays open during a pandemic and well we all know its out there, should an employer be responsible for anything other than PPE for the employees under OSHA guidelines? The law is specific in this regard that the employer is responsible for providing the equipment and training for an employee engaged in activity considered hazardous. They cant be terminated for not entering an unsafe environment and that determination would be really left up to the employee rather than the employer.
On the other hand if someone gets sick in the line to go to the doctor, is the person any less responsible then than when he is on the job?
If you have endemically infected animals on your property and you dont put them down does your insurance policy cover it if they get BF or whatever while they are there?. Its a prescribed risk like them stepping on a spike nail in the front yard. You put a sign up that says, "endemically bird flu infected dogs." I see a lot of work for the lawyers post flu. Your thoughts?
Randy: This is a legal question and I'm not a lawyer. There is a "geneal duty" clause in OSHA butif it isn't covered by a reg. I don't think a person would be very successful in getting them to do anything. Regarding tort actions, the issue is negligence. If the employer were clearly negligent than they are potentially liable.