Urgent tests are under way to determine whether a dead swan found in Scotland died of the deadly avian flu. If confirmed, it will be the first naturally occurring case in Britain and the closest to Ireland yet detected.
The dead bird was recovered yesterday afternoon on a farm in Fife in the east of Scotland. A six-mile exclusion zone was immediately thrown up around the farm in an attempt to block any spread.
The Scottish Executive confirmed the discovery last night, indicating preliminary tests confirmed the virus involved was the "highly pathogenic H5 avian flu".
Tests continued last night to determine whether it was the feared H5N1 strain. "The exact strain of the virus is not yet known, tests are continuing and a further result is expected tomorrow," the executive stated.
The H5N1 strain is feared by health officials as a potential viral trigger for a deadly human influenza pandemic.
While the strain mainly affects wild birds and poultry, and currently does not easily pass from human to human, there are concerns it could mutate into a human illness. If this occurred, it would spread rapidly as humans have virtually no resistance to the H5N1 strain.
The head of the Government's expert committee on human pandemic planning, Prof William Hall, last night stressed that the disease remained one mainly of birds and was not yet a risk to humans.
"In view of bird migration through Europe this was not unexpected," he said of the discovery in Scotland. The identification of an infected bird so close to Ireland did not require changes to any of the planning put together by the various committees.
"We have a pandemic plan in place for humans and the Department of Agriculture has a group in place and they have plans for dealing with avian influenza," stated Prof Hall, who is a professor in UCD's school of medicine and medical science. The main initial fear for Ireland is that the virus would be carried by wild birds to infect the country's substantial poultry industry, Prof Hall added.
H5N1 bird flu has been detected in Britain in a consignment of 148 parrots and softbills imported from Surinam, but this could be the first "wild" case. If confirmed, this would mark a remarkably rapid transfer of the virus by migrating birds who have carried it from a source in the Far East to the other side of the earth in just a few years.
The case in Scotland comes as German authorities yesterday confirmed that country's first case of the H5N1 strain in domestic fowl. It was detected on a farm at Wermsdorf in the east of the country and officials immediately moved to cull the entire flock.
Research published this morning in the journal Nature also highlights another possible source of viral transmission, domestic cats. A study by scientists in the Netherlands shows that cats that contract H5N1 from infected wild birds or poultry can spread the virus to other cats, humans and poultry farms. - (Additional reporting PA)