UK's top bird flu team should be focusing on vaccine, insists farmer

Mark Gorton, founder and managing director of Traditional Norfolk Poultry, said a major new research group to tackle the devastating H5N1 disease should be focusing on developing a vaccine.

He and other poultry farmers have been pressing for action on the issue after Suffolk found itself at the centre of the UK's worst bird flu crisis to date this winter after nine outbreaks in poultry flocks. Just recently, an outbreak hit the wild bird population at Minsmere nature reserve on the county's coast.

Free-range turkeys from Traditional Norfolk Poultry (Image: Archant)

The government announced this week that the consortium of eight top scientists would be working on "developing new strategies to tackle future bird flu outbreaks" - but a vaccine isn't mentioned.

Stated aims include looking at the current avian influenza strains which had led to larger and longer outbreaks, understanding transmission and infection in different bird populations, mapping and modelling its spread, looking at resistance among some birds, developing models to predict how it will evolve and focusing on risk mitigation measures.

More than 100 cases of the disease occurred in England - and where the virus has been detected in poultry premises, flocks were culled. Outbreaks were discovered in Elmswell, Redgrave, Market Weston, Woodbridge and Stowmarket.

The research team at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), has been given £1.5m by the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Mark Gorton, founder and managing director of Traditional Norfolk Poultry (Image: TNP)

The government described the formation of the new top team as "a significant boost to the UK’s poultry sector and rural economy, which has experienced significant disruption from this year’s outbreak with compulsory indoor housing measures put in place to protect poultry from this horrible disease".

But Mr Gorton expressed disappointment that finding a suitable vaccine wasn't central to the team's aims.

"There are vaccines there. There have been trials done in France and I think in some other European countries. Some countries already use it. China uses it and has done for many years. There's a vaccine there," he said.

"For me they are going down the wrong road. We need to focus on a vaccine like we vaccinate for other diseases."

He called for a joined up effort with European counterparts to solve the problem - continental Europe was also badly affected by the latest bird flu outbreak.

His one million-strong flock of outdoor chickens - and turkeys in season - is spread across 60 farms in the East Anglian region. The birds did not succumb to the disease this time around, but it remains a constant threat to all poultry farmers.

"It has been a terrible year. It has been the worst year ever for bird flu," he said. "It used to be fowl pest. You don't hear about that any more because we vaccinate against it."

But he recognised that developing a safe and effective vaccine wasn't easy.

"It's not straightforward to do the vaccine and there are all sorts of legislative hurdles to jump through," he said.

"The thing is the H5N1 strain hasn't gone away yet. This time of year is not conducive to virus spread. If it doesn't go away over the summer, there's nothing to say it's not going to come back next year even worse. If you were a betting man you would say it's going to be worse."

On top of ongoing concerns about bird flu, poultry farmers are facing a feed cost crisis after it doubled in price, he said.

APHA is hosting an International Reference Laboratory, where tests are conducted on global samples and information is shared internationally.

Members of the consortium will also attend a global session this month, hosted by the US Department of Agriculture, where they will influence and coordinate future investment into animal influenzas on an international basis.