TESTS ON TWO POULTRY FARMS IN EASTERN ENGLAND HAVE SHOWN POSITIVE RESULTS FOR BIRD FLU IN CHICKENS, BRITAIN'S ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY SAID ON SATURDAY, ACCORDING TO REUTERS. "WE CAN CONFIRM PRELIMINARY TESTS INDICATE H7N3 (BIRD FLU), BUT FURTHER TESTS ARE BEING CARRIED OUT," SAID A SPOKESWOMAN, ADDING TWO FREE-RANGE FLOCKS WILL BE SLAUGHTERED. THE H7N3 STRAIN OF BIRD FLU WAS FOUND ON ANOTHER FARM NEARBY IN THE EASTERN ENGLISH COUNTY OF NORFOLK EARLIER THIS WEEK WHERE 35,000 BIRDS ARE BEING CULLED. THE STRAIN IS LESS DANGEROUS TO HUMANS THAN THE FEARED H5N1 BIRD FLU VIRUS. NORFOLK IS HOME TO SOME OF EUROPE'S BIGGEST POULTRY FARMS AND THE SPOKESWOMAN SAID A RESTRICTIVE ZONE OF ONE KILOMETRE WAS BEING PUT IN PLACE AROUND EACH FARM. BRITAIN HAS BEEN ON HIGH ALERT FOR BIRD FLU SINCE IT DISCOVERED THE H5N1 VIRUS IN A WILD SWAN IN SCOTLAND EARLIER THIS MONTH. THE SWAN WAS THE ONLY WILD BIRD FOUND IN BRITAIN SO FAR TO HAVE THE H5N1 VIRUS, WHICH HAS SPREAD FROM ASIA TO EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA, AND LED TO THE DEATH AND CULLING OF 200 MILLION BIRDS SINCE LATE 2003. H5N1 HAS INFECTED 205 PEOPLE AND KILLED 113 SINCE 2003.
