From east to west in 14 weeks

How the virus spread through Europe

Sam Jones Thursday April 6, 2006 The Guardian

Pathogenic avian flu landed on the borders of Europe in January this year. Having swept westward from south-east Asia - where it had killed 104 people since mid-2003 - the current outbreak claimed its first Turkish victim in the town of Dogubayazit, close to the border with Iran, on January 1.

Mehmet Ali Kocyigit was 14 when he died from the H5N1 virus. His sister, Fatma, was next to die. A week later, a third sibling died, followed by a 12-year-old girl in the town, and a 14-year-old girl who died on January 15.

From east to west in 14 weeks


How the virus spread through Europe

Sam Jones
Thursday April 6, 2006
The Guardian


Pathogenic avian flu landed on the borders of Europe in January this year. Having swept westward from south-east Asia - where it had killed 104 people since mid-2003 - the current outbreak claimed its first Turkish victim in the town of Dogubayazit, close to the border with Iran, on January 1.
Mehmet Ali Kocyigit was 14 when he died from the H5N1 virus. His sister, Fatma, was next to die. A week later, a third sibling died, followed by a 12-year-old girl in the town, and a 14-year-old girl who died on January 15.


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As had been the case in China, Vietnam and many other countries, the boy and his siblings had close contact with chickens. Their family raised them and handled them on a regular basis. Zeki Kocyigit, the children's father, told the Anatolia news agency that the whole family had eaten sick birds, but that only the children became ill. Two days later, they developed nausea and a high fever.
By February, the H5N1 virus was gathering pace, spreading to France, Italy and Germany, and leading the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to announce that it would implement the Avian Influenza Directive, already adopted in Europe, by mid-summer. The move was designed to increase surveillance of flocks and introduce powers to restrict animal movements.

In mid-February, senior British vets said that reports that a duck in Lyon, France, had died from H5N1 increased the likelihood that the virus may be found in the UK. By the end of the month, bird flu had also been detected in Greece, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Slovakia. Two dead ducks heralded the virus's arrival in Sweden on February 28. The Swedish authorities notified the European commission of confirmed cases of the H5N1 virus in the birds, samples of which were dispatched to the EU laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey, for further tests.

Sweden also triggered the obligatory control measures that apply in any member state that finds bird flu, limiting movements of poultry within six miles of the outbreak.

The news led the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, to declare he feared bird flu could become endemic in the UK. "I would anticipate that avian flu will arrive in the UK. We also have to anticipate that it will be here for five years plus. We are talking about the possibility it being endemic here in the UK as it did in China. It is a long-term factor," Sir David told the BBC.

Until last night, the virus appeared not to have taken hold among Britain's wild birds. Although authorities confirmed last October that a parrot from Surinam had died in quarantine in Essex infected with bird flu - later confirmed as the H5N1 strain - scientists said it had probably caught the disease from Taiwanese birds in quarantine. Because the flu was confined to quarantine, the government said Britain retained its disease-free status.

Government vets have investigated 40 suspected cases since January this year. A teal shot in eastern England was found to have a low pathogenic strain of the H5 virus, while a wild mallard shot in West Lothian, Scotland, and a wigeon killed in South Wales, were discovered to have other low pathogenic viruses. A further 411 shot birds were found to be clear of bird flu. Before it was called into Scotland last night, Defra had dealt with almost 1,200 reports of dead birds.



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