Britain Confirms Deadly Avian Flu; Scared People Hoard Tamiflu

When a parrot in quarantine in England died mysteriously last week, the country waited anxiously for word on toxicology reports to see if the bird had died from avian flu. Officials said Sunday they have confirmed that the bird died of the same deadly strain of avian flu that has plagued Asia and is now spreading into Europe.

The parrot, imported from South America, died of the H5N1 strain that has devastated poultry stocks and killed over 60 people in Asia. Although the virus is easily transmitted among birds, it is more difficult for humans to contract. However, medical experts are concerned that the virus could soon mutate into a form of flu that would be transmitted easily between humans. Such a virus could easily become a pandemic and result in millions of people being killed.

Migratory wild birds are spreading the virus and over the last few months it has been found in birds in Russia, Turkey, and Romania. The parrot that died in England was the first confirmed case of avian flu in Britain since 1992. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs veterinarian who examined the bird said that it had probably become infected with the virus while it was quarantined with a group of birds from Taiwan. Several of the Taiwanese birds also died, but tests conducted on them by DEFRA were inconclusive.

In Croatia, six swans were found dead Friday in an area near a national park, and medical experts detected that they died from the H5 virus. Five other swans were found dead the following morning near the park. Samples from all the contaminated birds have been sent to a laboratory in Britain, and the Croatian government was forced to slaughter about 10,000 domestic birds near the area where the swans were found. Officials have promised to compensate farmers and villagers for their damages, which are estimated at about $160,000. But the real problem for Croatian farmers may be a longer term one, since the European Commission said Friday that it is preparing a ban on all poultry imports from the country, something that some individual European nations have already done.

Countries all around the globe are focused on European efforts to contain the spread of the deadly flu. Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina have banned poultry imports from Croatia and have ordered cars to be disinfected at the Croatian border. Officials have begun testing poultry to ensure that local stocks have not become infected. Sweden said that four ducks found dead in an area west of Stockholm were infected with bird flu, but not the deadly H5N1 strain. Jordan and Israel are monitoring people traveling across the border between the two countries, but neither country has discovered any cases of the avian flu yet.

North Korea acknowledged its first bird flu outbreak in March, but officials reacted quickly and culled over 200,000 chickens, and no other cases have been reported since. A nationwide campaign has been launched to educate farmers, strengthen quarantine procedures, and intensify reporting systems. The European Union is discussing a possible ban on imports of wild birds into EU countries. So far the EU has refused calls to ban all pet bird imports for fear of creating a black market for exotic birds, which could actually increase the threat of infected birds being smuggled in without proper quarantine procedures.

Although no cases of avian flu have been documented in the United States, fears about the deadly virus are causing a rush by consumers to secure prescriptions for Tamiflu, the drug by Roche Holding that some scientists believe might be effective against the bird flu. Although the FDA and CDC have said there is no 100% evidence that Tamiflu would work against avian flu, many people are buying it anyway, and pharmacists are worried that the high demand this early in the year could cause problems when regular flu season comes around. There will be plenty of flu vaccine available, but it may be difficult or impossible to find Tamiflu to treat symptoms of flu.

Pharmacies across the country are filling up to ten times as many Tamiflu prescriptions as they usually do, even though doctors are urging people not to hoard the medication. Although it might be nice to have on hand if the regular flu hits, it has not been proven to be effective against the avian flu. The Swiss drug company Roche Holding, makers of Tamiflu, say they are building a new manufacturing plant in the United States to boost production of antiviral drugs in case the avian flu does lead to a pandemic, which officials say is extremely likely—and perhaps even certain.