Russia, Japan ban British poultry over bird flu

HOLTON (Reuters) - Russia and Japan banned British poultry imports after Britain's first outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu in farmed poultry that caused it to cull almost 160,000 turkeys on Monday.

Workers wearing white protective suits, black gloves and masks took the livestock away in crates to be gassed after discovery of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu on a farm in eastern England run by Europe's largest turkey producer, Bernard Matthews.

The H5N1 virus has spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe since it reemerged in Asia in 2003 and though it remains largely an animal disease, it can kill people who come into close contact with infected birds.

In Cairo, a World Health Organization official said a 12-year-old Egyptian girl had become the latest confirmed victim of the disease that has killed 166 people in the past four years.

Britain's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the cull at the infected farm at Holton ended at just after 2030 GMT.

Environment Secretary David Miliband said veterinary experts were investigating the source of the infection, which was most likely to have come from wild birds.

But he told parliament the risk to the public was judged by experts to be negligible, adding that properly cooked poultry and eggs were safe.

The outbreak had an immediate impact on Britain's poultry industry, the second largest in the European Union after France.

Russian officials said Moscow would ban British poultry imports from Tuesday. Japan also banned British imports of fowl while Ireland barred their import for "gatherings and shows."

Some scientists have expressed fears the virus could mutate into a form that could easily be transmitted among humans and possibly cause a global pandemic.

UK POULTRY SALES 'HOLDING UP'

Poultry sales in Britain held up despite the scare, however.