Belgium announces measures for avian flu outbreak
The risk to humans from the subtype of the flu is considered very low.
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The risk to humans from the subtype of the flu is considered very low.
Half a million hens have been culled as a result of the outbreak.
The risk to humans is considered to be very low.
Up to 20,000 chickens were killed after the deadly virus was found in poultry imported from mainland China.
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Health officials have stressed that the risk to the population is extremely low.
The WHO say that so far there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
Scientists have long feared the virus would mutate into a form that transmits easily from person to person.
‘Influenza viruses constantly reinvent themselves’, says the head of the WHO. ‘No one can predict the future course.’
The victims contracted H7N9 avian influenza, a sub-type that has not previously been transmitted to humans.
The Department of Agriculture said today that there was no update as yet as to the cause of the outbreak in Cork.
The birds on the affected premises are being slaughtered today.
The US government fears that details on a lab-made version of bird flu could be used by terrorists for biological warfare.
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A mutant strain of the virus has been confirmed in China and Vietnam, and is believed to have been spread by wild bird migration.