Fresh warning on bird flu

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, in a statement to Parliament published today, said: "I would stress the need for poultry keepers to be extremely vigilant, practise the highest levels of biosecurity and report any suspicions of disease to their local Animal Health Office immediately."

Mr Benn made his statement as thousands of chickens were due to be slaughtered at the infected Eastwood Farm, between Shenington and Shutford, near Banbury.

Defra veterinary officers have suspended the movement of all poultry in the area and a temporary control zone with a 3km inner zone and a 10km outer zone have been established around the premises.

The minister said the Government was "urgently considering" whether any wider measures may be needed.

The Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens said yesterday preliminary tests on chickens at a premises were positive for the H7 strain. The tests followed deaths in the chicken-laying flock and a reduction in egg production.

Mr Benn stressed that avian influenza was largely a disease of birds, and said the virus did "not easily cross from birds to infect humans".

The Bishop of Dorchester, the Rt Rev Colin Fletcher, has expressed his concern and support after the discovery of Avian Flu virus HN7.

The birds have been confirmed with the H7 strain of the disease, rather than highly virulent H5N1 strain, regarded as a potential threat to human health. Nonetheless, all the birds on the premises, near Banbury, are being slaughtered and a temporary control zone is being set up around the farm.

Bishop Colin said: "The news that Avian Flu Virus HN7 has been discovered on a farm near Banbury is a terrible shock for the farm involved and a real blow both for those who keep a few chickens and the farming community in Oxfordshire as a whole.

"The Church is on hand to offer support to all those affected, and we will continue to remember our farmers in our prayers."