But health official says illness does not yet pose human risk
Reuters, BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 23 — A highly contagious bird flu virus ravaging the Dutch poultry sector extended its grip on neighboring Belgium Wednesday, while the EU’s health chief said it did not yet pose a risk to public health.
“NO SIGNIFICANT genetic changes have been detected in the avian influenza virus strain circulating in the Netherlands so far,” European Union Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne said.
“This suggests that at present avian influenza does not represent a risk to the general public,” he told a meeting of the executive European Commission.
While the Netherlands has not reported new cases of avian flu for some time, Belgium registered its fifth suspected case earlier Wednesday — outside the buffer zone where four cases have been partially or fully confirmed.
The latest alert is in the small town of
Malle 13 miles from Antwerp.
POULTRY BAN EXTENDED
EU veterinary experts decided Wednesday to extend the ban on poultry transport and exports in Belgium and the Netherlands until May 12
In a bid to contain the disease, Belgium plans to triple its poultry slaughter in the eastern Limburg region, the epicenter of the crisis, raising the total cull to 1.5 million birds.
“If the virus is being spread by the wind, it will be more difficult than predicted to stop its spread,” Belgian Health Minister Jef Tavernier told a news conference
Workers engaged in killing chickens on the infected farms ran the most risk of contracting bird flu and are taking medication, the head of Belgium’s food safety authority, Piet Vanthemsche, told reporters at the same news conference.
Byrne said avian influenza had to be distinguished from SARS, which was caused by a different virus.
The death of a Dutch veterinarian from pneumonia after contracting bird flu had aroused alarm that a mutated version of the virus might cause another type of severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in people.
Following the vet’s death, Dutch scientists had initially feared there was a chance that the avian flu virus had mutated and leaped over the species barrier in ways similar to SARS. SARS stems from the corona virus, a completely different family from bird flu, although some scientists have speculated that SARS might have been the result of human and avian viruses mixing in areas of China where people live close to animals.
The Dutch poultry and egg sector has suffered well over $100 million in losses from the bird flu outbreak sweeping through the European Union’s biggest poultry exporter, an official said Wednesday.
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