Bird flu in England raises fears across EU

LONDON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- British officials said Monday they are nearly finished culling about 160,000 turkeys infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The discovery of the virus, which was found in England at the European Union's largest turkey farm on Saturday, has raised fears that it could spread across the European continent, Deutsche Welle reported.

The strain of avian influenza found at the farm is similar to a strain of Asian H5N1 detected among geese in Hungary in January.

The operators of the farm, Bernard Matthews Foods, said the virus could not have been transported from its Hungarian operations to the English location.

"The fact that we have a Hungarian operation is immaterial," a spokesman for the company said.

When bird flu was last detected in Europe, it affected 14 EU member states. The virus was last noted in Germany in August 2006.

David King, Britain's chief scientist, downplayed fears the virus could spread to other birds around the country and elsewhere in Europe. "I'm really confident this is not going to spread to other poultry holders," he said.