Dead swans found in Finland test negative for avian influenza

Ministerial heads meet to discuss contingency plans

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Health officials in Finland have examined the carcasses of a few dead birds found in Hanko and the Åland Islands. The National Veterinary and Food Research Institute of Finland (EELA) has not found indications of avian influenza in any of them.
      In Täktom in the city of Hanko on the southwest tip of Finland, two dead swans were found on Wednesday, and were sent for tests as a precaution. According to Mia Lindertz, the municipal veterinarian of the city of Karjaa, the birds had spent the winter in the area, and had probably died of other causes.
      There are no plans to examine every dead bird. According to instructions given out by EELA, tests will be made if there are mass deaths - that is, at least ten dead birds.
      As for the swans, Professor Liisa Sihvonen of EELA says that if five or more birds are found dead, local veterinary officials should be contacted.
     
Veterinary authorities in Germany said on Thursday that there has probably been bird 'flu in the country for months. This assessment is based on the fact that the swans that caught the disease are not true migratory birds.
      Two theories were offered as to how the swans may have caught the virus. It may have come from migratory wild geese, or the swans themselves may have flown from eastern Central Europe to escape cold temperatures there.
     
The chiefs of staff of various government ministries went through a memo drafted at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Thursday, on precautions on how to deal with a possible outbreak of bird 'flu.
      State Secretary Risto Volanen, who chaired the meeting, said that officials would take part in a readiness exercise at the beginning of March.
      The gap between exercises and the real world is narrowing, and it can already be seen that preparations were begun in good time, Volanen said on Thursday.
      "The map shows that the risk has grown."
     
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry plans to increase the number of municipalities where keeping poultry out-of-doors would be forbidden for the duration of the spring migration of wild birds.
      Now 160 municipalities are seen to be at risk. The new communities are considered important for the production of poultry. They are located in Savo, Ostrobothnia, and Finland-Proper in the south-west. The ban on keeping poultry outside will come into effect in early March - two weeks earlier than originally planned.
      The aim of the change is to make sure that precautions are in place in good time before the spring migration. The purpose of keeping the chickens inside will be to prevent their interaction with wild birds, which may be carriers of the virus.
     
The most economically dramatic impact of bird flu has thus far been felt in Italy, where about 30,000 people have lost their jobs, following a collapse in demand for poultry meat, and in its wholesale and retail price.
      "Bird 'flu has already claimed its first victim: the poultry market", wrote the major Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
      Bird flu has been diagnosed in eight swans in Italy, but no domestic birds have been affected.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Bird flu feared to have reached Nordic region; Finland to expedite regulations (16.2.2006)
  Avian flu coming to Finland in spring along with migratory birds (14.2.2006)

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