Farmers in Britain braced for the worst

Poultry farmers were bracing themselves for the worst yesterday after the Government admitted bird flu was "more likely" to reach the UK since the discovery of the deadly strain in France.

The poultry industry has been urged to be vigilant following confirmation that a duck in France had the H5N1 strain of the virus. France was the seventh EU country to be hit by the disease, which can be passed to humans from direct contact with infected birds or faeces.

Ben Bradshaw, the Animal Health minister, urged the public to report any dead birds they see but stressed that the risk of bird flu arriving in the UK was still low. "We are appealing to poultry keepers to be ready to house their birds should such an order be issued, which would happen if there were there an outbreak to be found in this country.

"We think we have got a good plan, it is based on a scientific risk assessment. We are keeping the farmers and the poultry keepers informed," he said.

Mr Bradshaw added that there had been a "contingency plan" in place for three and a half years that had been approved by the National Farmers Union, and added that an "urgent review" of arrangements would take place if wild birds were found with the disease on a migratory route crossing Britain.

The Tory Party called for a contingency planning exercise that would test the UK's response to avian flu to be brought forward from April.

John Widdowson, 45, a poultry farmer from Devon, who owns 20,000 free range hens, said the arrival of the disease could "potentially devastate" farmers, but said he was confident the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, could control it.

But medical experts warned the likelihood of a human avian flu pandemic was high. John Oxford, a professor of virology at St Barts and the Royal London Hospital, predicted it could affect the world in 18 months.

The British Veterinary Association said surveillance of wild birds was being increased.