Bird Flu Strikes in West - Swans Found on Beach with H5N1 Strain

8.30.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 16th Jan 2008

Following the discovery of three dead mute swans from the Abbotsbury Swannery on Chesil Beach near Weymouth, which tested positively for the H5N1 strain of avian flu and the further discovery of two further mute swans, who it is thought do not have the deadly strain, Graham Watson, MEP for the South West and Gibraltar reported:

"I spoke today to the EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou regarding the recent outbreak in Abbotsbury. Commissioner Kyprianou assured me that the Commission is not in any way complacent regarding the matter, although it is clear we have to learn to live with the H5N1 virus.

He went on to assure me that there has been and continues to be heavy EU investment in research and development of vaccine due to the threat to poultry and human health."

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