Global Spread of H5N1 in 2007 - February

February

• February 3, 2007: In late January 2007 there was an outbreak of avian influenza, caused by H5N1, at one of Bernard Matthews' farms in Holton in Suffolk. This infection, the second in the United Kingdom, was confirmed on 3 February 2007. A 3 km protection zone, 10 km surveillance zone and a restricted zone encompassing 2000 km² were set up and 159,000 turkeys were slaughtered with the cull being completed on 5 February. Around 320 workers at the plant were given anti-viral drugs. The plant was thoroughly disinfected. with cleaning complete on February 12 and permission being given for production to resume. Neither causation, nor a link with the Bernard Matthews plant in Hungary, has been established but the H5N1 bird flu strains found in geese in Hungary and the turkeys in Britain are 99.96% genetically identical, and almost certainly linked, according to an analysis of the viruses by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey.

• February 6, 2007: H5N1 was found in a flock of 40 chickens near Islamabad, Pakistan and all the chickens are now dead from the disease bird flu or culling to prevent its spread.

• February 9, 2007: H5N1 killed 170 chickens in Bogazkoy village, in southeastern Turkey. Nearly 1,000 birds have been culled in Bogazkoy and two nearby villages."

• February 19–20, 2007: "An outbreak of H5N1 detected at two farms near the Laotian capital Vientiane on Feb. 7 was reported."

• February 22, 2007: "H5N1 is been confirmed in eight suburban Moscow districts, a top Russian veterinary official said, as experts enforced a quarantine in several villages and sought to keep the disease from spreading. The virus, which began killing domestic birds in the Moscow suburbs on Feb. 9, has been traced to a single animal market just outside the capital."

• February 22, 2007:"Afghan authorities were culling poultry after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in chicken in an eastern Afghan city, a U.N. official said Wednesday."

• February 25, 2007:Kuwait saw its first major outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza.

• February 28, 2007:"Myanmar reported that the H5N1 virus killed poultry at a farm about 5 miles from Rangoon, the country's largest city The outbreak began 2 days ago, killing 68 of 1,360 layer chickens, ducks, and pullets, and officials attributed the outbreak to poor biosecurity on the farm, the report said. The remaining birds were destroyed, and authorities instituted several control measures including limiting poultry movement within the country, screening poultry, and disinfecting the affected area. Myanmar's last poultry outbreak was reported in April 2006."