AP Features, February 7th, 2007
A second worker involved with a bird flu outbreak at a British farm is being tested for the deadly H5N1 strain, health authorities said Wednesday.
The tests were a precaution, the Health Protection Agency said, adding that it did not expect the worker to test positive. Earlier Wednesday, bird flu was ruled out as the cause of illness in a veterinarian who was hospitalized after responding to the outbreak at a commercial poultry farm in eastern England.
"We are not expecting any workers to test positive for avian flu as they have followed all the necessary precautions in terms of protective clothing, hygiene measures and have been offered anti-viral drugs," said Dr. Jonathan Van Tam, a flu expert at the agency.
"We are, however, expecting to see a number of workers with symptoms caused by other non-flu respiratory viruses over the coming week as this is the time of year when we see an increase in these infections. We will asses these cases as they occur and expect to be carrying out more testing through the course of this week."
Officials did not identify the person being tested Wednesday, but Portugal's Lusa news agency said she was a female Portuguese worker at the farm. Many Portuguese workers are employed in Britain's agriculture sector.
The veterinarian, who was not identified by name, was among State Veterinary Service workers sent to the farm where 159,000 turkeys were slaughtered after the outbreak.
On Tuesday, he was hospitalized for a chest infection, but "tests for avian flu and normal seasonal flu were negative," the health agency said. "This patient will now be treated under normal clinical care."
Officials have said the outbreak posed a "negligible" risk to the public or poultry industry. Several countries, however, have banned British poultry imports.
The farm in Holton, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northeast of London, is owned by Bernard Matthews PLC, Europe's biggest turkey producer.
Bird flu has killed or prompted the culling of millions of birds worldwide since late 2003, when it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks. It has killed at least 165 people worldwide, but remains difficult for humans to catch.
Experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a global pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with sick birds.
British government scientists have yet to identify the source of the recent outbreak.
