The UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer has confirmed H5N8 avian flu in a flock of turkeys at a farm in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

This follows confirmation of the disease in a flock of turkeys on a nearby farm on 16 December 2016. There is unlikely to be a direct link to the previous case but a full investigation is under way to confirm this.

A 3 km Protection Zone and a 10 km Surveillance Zone have been put in place around the infected premises to limit the risk of the disease spreading. The flock is estimated to contain approximately 6,000 birds. A number have died and the remaining live birds at the premises are being humanely culled.

The advice from Public Health England is that the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency has made clear that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.

Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens said:

 

We have taken swift action to limit the risk of the disease spreading with restrictions in place around the affected premises. A full investigation is underway to determine the source of the infection.

 

This finding reminds us that we must all be vigilant for signs of disease and take steps to minimise the risk of birds catching the disease from wild birds – either directly or through the environment.

 

This means complying with the legal requirement currently in place to house birds or otherwise keep them separate from wild birds and following strict biosecurity measures to minimise the risk of avian flu spreading via the environment.

This is the same strain which was found in backyard flocks in Carmarthenshire, Wales, and in Settle, North Yorkshire, earlier this month, as well as at a different turkey farm in Lincolnshire in December and in a number of wild birds in England, Wales and Scotland.