Written question asked by Baroness Byford (Conservative), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 February 2007.

Avian Flu

Question: Whether wild bird droppings in East Anglia have been tested over the past 12 months to ascertain whether there could be a link with a possible outbreak of H5N1; and, if not, whether such research will be undertaken.

Answer: Within the area around the infected premises in Suffolk there will be enhanced levels of surveillance. Defra, along with our delivery partners, will be patrolling the sites surrounding the infected premises. Elsewhere, we will continue to pursue our wild bird surveillance programme which is targeted to those areas likely to be at greatest risk. We are aware of30 key waterbird locations in Suffolk—estuaries, marshes and so on. Twelve of these locations are within20 kilometres of the infected premises, of which 10 are patrolled regularly as part of the programme. Six of those sites have been patrolled over 100 times since the patrol programme began in early November 2006. Wild bird droppings are not routinely tested and there are no plans to do so.

Secondary information