EU unveils measures to halt bird flu as Thai dies

The European Commission unveiled new measures yesterday to prevent the spread of bird flu as a man died in Thailand from the …

The European Commission unveiled new measures yesterday to prevent the spread of bird flu as a man died in Thailand from the virus.

The new measures include an EU-wide ban on the collection of birds at markets, exhibitions and cultural events unless specifically authorised by individual member states.

The commission's committee on animal health also voted to keep poultry indoors in high-risk areas and to vaccinate birds in zoos against the H5N1 virus.

However, each member state will have the final say on whether to implement the new measures depending on its own risk assessment of a particular area.

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The Government has so far chosen not to restrict poultry to their enclosures but instead has set up an early detection system for the bird flu virus in risk areas.

The new EU measures follow the death yesterday of a 48-year-old Thai man, who became the 67th person to die from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which can pass from birds to humans.

All the victims have been in Asia and were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain.

Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the latest human victim of the virus had slaughtered and eaten a sick bird in a region that reported new outbreaks of avian influenza earlier this week.

"The guy was infected with bird flu because he took a sick chicken, slaughtered it and then ate it," said Mr Thaksin.

Health authorities sought to reassure consumers of poultry yesterday, stating that eating well-cooked chicken was not considered to be a risk, however, contact with infected chickens or ducks is a known method of transmission.

But scientists are concerned that the virus could mutate, enabling it to spread to humans and creating the conditions for a flu pandemic.

EU health ministers met in Britain yesterday to discuss their preparedness for a potential pandemic amid concerns that stocks of anti-viral drugs are not sufficient.

Pressure is also mounting on the drug company Roche Holdings to allow other firms to manufacture Tamiflu, the best drug to treat symptoms of influenza.

Meanwhile, confusion still reigns over a suspected outbreak of avian influenza in Greece. The outbreak, reported to the Commission earlier this week, has still not been confirmed from samples tested by the EU laboratory based in England.

An EU spokeswoman said further tests were being conducted on samples.