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London: Officials began slaughtering thousands of turkeys yesterday after detecting bird flu at a farm in eastern England, with scientists carrying out urgent tests to see if it was the dangerous H5N1 strain.
Britain has already seen one H5N1 outbreak this year at another turkey farm and troubled livestock farmers have had to deal with both foot and mouth disease and an outbreak of bluetongue disease.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said the preliminary results from the farm on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk were positive for the H5 strain but it was not immediately known if it was H5N1, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.
Mutation fears
"We are still awaiting the results of what strain it is," a DEFRA spokeswoman said. "The cull will start today."
Millions of birds have died from H5N1 across Asia, Europe and Africa or have been slaughtered to prevent its spread, with fears the virus could spark a global pandemic if it mutated to spread easily between humans.
Gressingham Foods, the company that owned the farm, said all staff had been offered flu vaccinations as a precautionary step.
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