Government sets up group to tackle bird flu

An expert group has been set up by the Government to co-ordinate the State's response to the spread of bird flu in Europe.

The group, announced by Minister for Agriculture Mary Couglan today, includes veterinary, scientific and ornithological expertise and will be chaired by Prof Michael Monaghan from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicines at UCD.

Ms Couglan said the group will bring "a wealth of advice and experience that will be of great value in ensuring that all reasonable precautions are taken to prevent the introduction of the disease and if necessary to deal with outbreaks if they arise."

She said the group would be asked to advise her of the circumstances in which it would be necessary to introduce the compulsory housing of domestic poultry and other birds.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected in birds in a number of European countries including, Italy, Hungary, Germany and Slovenia. The disease has also turned up in Nigeria, the only country to record a case in Africa.

So far, 91 people are estimated to have died from direct contact with birds around the world over the past two years, and nearly double that number have been infected.

But as yet there is no sign that the disease has mutated so as to cross-infect humans. If that happened, it would cause a potentially lethal pandemic, since humans have no immunity against the H5 antigen involved.

The new Expert Group's membership is: Prof Michael Monaghan, Faculty of Veterinary Medicines, UCD (Chairman); Olivia Crowe, Birdwatch Ireland; Dr Michael Gunn, CVRL, Department of Agriculture & Food; Prof Bill Hall, director, Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases, UCD; PJ McArdle, poultry expert (ex-Department of Agriculture and Food); Donal McLoone, MRCVS; Dr Patrick Wall, adjunct professor of Food Safety, Centre of Food Safety, UCD; Dr Paddy Rogan, chief veterinary officer, Department of Agriculture & Food; Dermot A Ryan, senior inspector, Department of Agriculture and Food; and John Wilson, Parks and Wildlife Service.