Booti-flu, Bernard!

[Rob McCow]

One flu over the Sussex nest.

We've got H5N1, the Bird Flu virus, according to the news, over here in the UK. It turned up at a Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk.

From the BBC:

The avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at a Suffolk farm has been confirmed as the H5N1 virus.
The strain can be fatal if it is passed on to humans but experts said the outbreak was being contained and posed little danger to people.
A spokesman for Bernard Matthews, which runs the farm in Holton, said none of the affected birds had entered the food chain and there was no risk to health.
The 159,000 other turkeys on the farm will now have to be slaughtered.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the European Commission carried out virus tests at laboratories in Weybridge, Surrey.
A three-kilometre protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone will be set up around Holton, which is approximately 27km south-west of Lowestoft.

A Defra statement said further tests to characterise the virus were under way in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain.
It is the first case on a UK commercial farm of an H5N1 infection. The strain has killed 164 people worldwide - mainly in south-east Asia - since 2003.
However, the virus is not thought to be able to pass easily from human to human at present.
So far, all those who have been infected worldwide have come into intimate contact with infected birds.

That's a horrendous number of Turkeys. Though I suppose if it saves the lives of 159,000 humans - it's worth it. You'd like to think the farmers would be able to do more, but they can't risk it getting into the general population.

Is it time to start wearing breathing protection masks to work?

[Milky Tears]

You're doomed! Run to the hills!

[Captain Tancredi]

From some of the reports, the people who'll suffer most in the immediate term will be the casual farm workers who find that their jobs just aren't there on Monday morning.

However, as the main method of transmission from infected birds seems to be through faeces, I'd just take extra care if anybody is washing their car tomorrow...

[Andrew Curnow]

I notice that Turkey Rolls were half price in Somerfield yesterday.

[Stephen Morgan]

I notice that Turkey Rolls were half price in Somerfield yesterday.

I don't touch any form of foul.

[WhiteCrow]

That's a horrendous number of Turkeys.

Yeah and I bet they were all high-fiving themselves saying "we've survived another Christmas" ... whoops!

I won't cry foul over this poultry matter.

[Paul Monk]

I haven't seen any coverage of this yet. Are the papers saying its armageddon yet?

[Doctor Vendetta]

I haven't seen any coverage of this yet. Are the papers saying its armageddon yet?

Only for turkeys...

[Si Hunt]

There was a notice up in our canteen yesterday saying they wouldn't be stopping selling Turkey, or stopping using Bernard Matthews, or changing anything at all. Somehow it seemed meant to be reassuring but wasn't.

I'm sticking with cheese.

Si.

[Richard Beeby]

Something else that's putting Suffolk on the map for all the wrong reasons!

I'm taking my boss out on Friday, I can't wait to show her all the wonderful sights! If she's so lucky, she may even get taken to Snape Maltings, the wonderful home of the Power of Kroll!

[Rob McCow]

She should be so lucky. Just so long as your trip doesn't involve green skin paint, human sacrifice and enormous octopus farts!

[Richard Beeby]

I'll try to drop those three things into the conversation and see if she goes for any of them.

I'm feeling that the octopus farts will be the most bizarre thing I've ever tried to slip into a conversation!