Friday, December 16, 2016

DEFRA: H5N8 Confirmed At Lincolnshire Turkey Farm

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#12,027


There have been media reports for several hours of suspected HPAI at a turkey farm in Lincolnshire, which has just been confirmed in the last few minutes by the UK's DEFRA.

This is the first appearance of H5N8 in the UK this year.


Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of the strain H5N8 has been confirmed in turkeys on a poultry farm near Louth in Lincolnshire.

All birds at the premises have died or will be humanely culled to limit the risk of disease spread. We are taking immediate and robust action and an investigation is underway to understand the origin of the disease and confirm that there are no further cases.

Avian Influenza declaration - Protection Zone and Surveillance Zone (16 December 2016)

PDF, 1.1MB, 13 pages

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A 3km Protection Zone and a 10km Surveillance Zone have been put in place around the infected farm. Within these zones, restrictions are now in place to prevent the spread of disease. These are additional to the restrictions already required under the Avian Influenza Prevention Zones currently in place across Great Britain. The additional measures mean that:
  • all premises with poultry and/or captive birds within the Protection and Surveillance Zones must continue to house their birds, where practicable
  • the movement of birds, mammals and other things, such as carcasses, eggs, used poultry litter and manure on or off premises and out of the Protection and Surveillance Zones are banned (except under licence)
  • no gatherings of poultry, nor releases of game birds, are allowed in the Protection and Surveillance Zones
The advice from Public Health England is that the risk to public health is very low. The Food Standards Agency has said that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.
The Prevention Zones announced on Tuesday 6 December remain in place in England, Scotland and Wales, and these also apply within the new Protection and Surveillance Zones in Lincolnshire. Poultry and captive bird keepers should continue to house their birds, where practicable, maintain their biosecurity and keep a close watch on the health of their birds. You can read more about this further down this page.

We are continuing to update this page.

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