UK poultry keepers are told to remain extremely vigilant. The H7 strain is largely a disease of birds, and poses a low risk to human health
The H7 strain of avian influenza has been confirmed in the UK county of Oxfordshire. The UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says that preliminary tests for the diseases in a 20,000 bird egg-laying unit have proved positive for a highly pathogenic strain of H7. 
Photo: Jonathan Ng
As a result, the birds are being slaughtered, and temporary control zones of 3km and 10km have been imposed around the infected farm which is just to the west of the town of Banbury. It is the first UK case for a year, following cases of low pathogen H7 in North Wales and Merseyside in May and June 2007.
Unlike the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the disease, H7 is largely a disease of birds, and poses a low risk to human health. Chief vet Nigel Gibbens has advised all poultry keepers to remain extremely vigilant, practice the highest levels of biosecurity and report any suspicions of disease to their local Animal Health office.
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