Papers Today

// Bird flu tests average almost six a day

Almost six birds are tested for avian flu every day on average in Northern Ireland, according to new government figures. The statistics show the mounting level of concern at the possibility of an outbreak. Scientists from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development carried out 2,141 tests on wild birds and poultry in the past year. The results came back negative in all cases but the figures show the extent of anxiety about a potential bird flu pandemic hitting the north's poultry industry. The tests peaked last November, with 856 samples taken in that one month alone.

An agriculture department spokeswoman said the tests included a routine domestic poultry survey. Members of the public have been reporting sightings of dead birds to the department since becoming aware of the presence of the virus in Europe. There have been several scares but the virus has not been found in Northern Ireland. However, it is getting closer. The virus has been identified in Scotland and at the Bernard Matthews turkey plant in Holton, Suffolk. The first test for avian flu in Northern Ireland was carried out on October 26 2005. The World Health Organisation has confirmed that more than 100 people have died from the H5N1 strain since 2003. This strain of the virus cannot pass easily from one person to another but there are fears it could mutate. It also emerged last month that attempts were made to smuggle more than 17 tonnes of illegal poultry from China into Belfast at the height of an avian flu outbreak. The consignment was seized by agricultural officials at Belfast Port in August 2005 at a time when the H5N1 strain was rampant in parts of east Asia. China is banned from exporting poultry meat into the European Union.(c) Irish News