# 681
The final epidemiological report on the Bernard Mathews outbreak in the UK has been released by defra. Anyone looking for a definitive answer will be disappointed, but they do lay out their suspicions that the virus came to England by way of Hungary.
Final epidemiology report into Avian influenza outbreak in Suffolk
published 19/04/07
Defra has today published the final epidemiology report into the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in Suffolk confirmed in February.
The report sets out the findings of the National Emergency Epidemiology Group who have been investigating the outbreak in close consultation with the European Commission and the Hungarian Authorities.
The final report is a detailed analysis of all possible ways the virus could have arrived in Holton, Suffolk. No specific proven source has been found. The report concludes that the most plausible explanation is that infection was most likely introduced to Britain via the importation of turkey meat from Hungary. Such meat could have originated from a sub-clinically infected turkey flock in Hungary which had been infected from a wild bird source which had also infected the two goose farms in Hungary.
The investigation in conjunction with the Hungarian authorities has found no evidence of undisclosed infection in Hungary and the possibility of infection going undetected in turkeys is considered to be a rare event.
The full report (pdf) can be downloaded from here.
