# 1480
Defra, the UK's Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, has often come under fire for their handling of animal diseases such as Bluetongue, hoof and mouth disease, and bird flu.
Their wild bird surveillance and testing methods, which continually fail to show traces of the H5N1 virus, and only rarely detect any other avian flu, have spawned recent criticisms.
According to Defra tests, UK birds are nearly 100 times less likely to carry an avian flu virus than Scandinavian birds.
Great news, assuming you believe the UK tests are accurate.
Today, they are being asked to explain why it took nearly 2-weeks to test the dead swans at Dorset.
The first dead swan was originally collected on Dec 27th, but not transferred to Defra until January 7th. The results of the testing were released on January 10th.
This from The Farmers Guardian.
Benn defends avian flu surveillance strategy after Dorset delays
News | 16 January, 2008
By Alistair Driver
DEFRA Secretary Hilary Benn defended the Government’s avian flu surveillance programme, after it emerged that it took nearly two weeks to confirm the disease in dead and ill wild birds in Dorset.
The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus was confirmed in three mute swans from Abbotsbury Swannery, near Weymouth, last Thursday (January 10).
But the first bird was discovered on December 27, with the other two found during the following week. Two of the swans were found through regular patrols by swannery staff as part of Defra’s dead wild bird surveillance programme and the other by a member of the public.
The birds were stored at the swannery until January 7 when the staff reported them to Defra. They were immediately taken to the local Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) laboratory at Exeter, from where samples were dispatched the VLA’s Weybridge plant for testing.
The delay prompted some criticism in the media. However, in a Parliamentary statement yesterday (January 16), Mr Benn said, when the swans were found, ‘there was no immediate cause to suspect disease, and as the cases did not appear unusual given mortality rates among the local swan population’.
He said the collection, storage, transportation and testing of the samples were ‘entirely consistent with international standards’.
He said more than 6,000 wild birds were tested last year alone, through targeted surveillance for avian flu in place throughout the UK and. He stressed that there had been no cuts in patrolling of wetland sites or testing and said there had been more than 2,000 patrols at over 200 sites since the start of the autumn migration period.
Further tests on dead birds found at Abbotsbury Swannery continue this week and surveillance of wild birds in the area was stepped up. All poultry premises in the Control Area set up around the outbreak are being visited by Animal Health staff to check for the presence of disease.
By today, no sign of further disease spread in wild or domestic birds had been detected.
The problem here, it would seem, is one of policy. The workers at the Swannery waited nearly 10 days to contact Defra.
"Why", I hear you ask?
Because Defra doesn't want to hear about bird die offs unless there are 10 or more birds involved.
That's why.
This from the Defra Web page (update Jan 14th, 2008).
If you find die offs involving 10 or more dead birds of the same species or from different species in the same place you should contact the Defra Helpline 08459 33 55 77, 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.
If you find any single dead birds (or less than 10), including garden birds then you do not need to call the Defra helpline. You should:
- leave it alone, or
- follow the guidelines below for disposal
Wild birds can carry several diseases that are infectious to people and some simple hygiene precautions should minimise the risk of infection. It is hard for people to catch avian influenza from birds and the following simple steps are also effective against avian influenza.
If you have to move a dead bird:
- Avoid touching the bird with your bare hands
- If possible, wear disposable protective gloves when picking up and handling (if disposable gloves are not available see 7)
- Place the dead bird in a suitable plastic bag, preferably leak proof. Care should be taken not to contaminate the outside of the bag
- Tie the bag and place it in a second plastic bag
- Remove gloves by turning them inside out and then place them in the second plastic bag. Tie the bag and dispose of in the normal household refuse bin.
- Hands should then be washed thoroughly with soap and water
- If disposable gloves are not available, a plastic bag can be used as a make-shift glove. When the dead bird has been picked up, the bag can be turned back on itself and tied. It should then be placed in a second plastic bag, tied and disposed of in the normal household waste
- Alternatively, the dead bird can be buried, but not in a plastic bag
- Any clothing that has been in contact with the dead bird should be washed using ordinary washing detergent at the temperature normally used for washing the clothing.
- Any contaminated indoor surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned with normal household cleaner.
It would be impossible for any agency to test and investigate every dead bird in their country, so I am sympathetic to their plight. Birds die from many causes, and so some criteria must be established concerning which birds to test, and which to ignore.
It would seem, however, that setting the threshold for investigation at 10 or more birds is a bit high. Particularly when dealing with waterfowl, which have the highest probability of carrying bird flu.
Also disturbing is the fact that the Defra hot-line, where people are asked to call to report a bird die off, is only in operation 9am-5pm Monday- Friday. Should a large die off be observed on a Friday night, there could be up to a 60 hour delay in being able to report it.
Unfortunately, at a time when surveillance needs to be increased, budgets are being cut.
And that doesn't bode well for future surveillance or containment efforts in the UK.
