As expected, the H5N1 strain of bird flu arrived properly in the UK. As predicted, it struck and incubated in a Factory Farm. According to reports, the farm belongs to Bernard Matthews, houses 160,000 turkeys, employs 1,000 and is located in rural Suffolk.
If the same procedures are followed as were in Norfolk in May 2006, where chickens were found to have the H7 strain and 50,000 were culled, all 160,000 turkeys will be culled on Bernard Matthews farm. But the danger to humans in the Suffolk setting is far more serious.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued a statement saying “don’t panic”. I’d panic if I worked there or lived anywhere near. One member of staff contracted the H7 disease and was treated for an eye infection in Norfolk last year but this strain is stronger.
According to the UK government’s top scientific adviser, Sir David King, H5N1 is one of four strains of bird flu known to cause infections in humans. The other three generally (but not always) cause mild symptoms but H5N1 leads to serious illness and more than half who contract it die.
Symptoms include:
Eye Infections
Sore throats
Muscle Aches
Breathing Difficulties
Chest Pains
The illness comes on quickly and sufferers stand a more than 50% chance of being dead within 3-4 days of the first symptoms.
Symptoms include a sore throat, aching muscles, lethargy, eye infections, breathing problems and chest pain. Deterioration in patients with H5N1 can happen very quickly and within a few days they can be dead. Of the approximately 250 people ever to have contracted the disease, 164 died.
It has been reported that antiviral drugs may help to reduce the length of symptoms. However, antivirals need to be administered at the start of the illness if they stand any chance of being effective.
It is unclear if the drugs will be made available to the farm’s workers and those living near to the outbreak where 2,600 turkeys, according to reports, have already died from the disease. The fear is that the flu mutates to create a strain that can be passed from human to human. A subsequent pandemic would, according to estimates, kill 50,000 in the UK.
