Case Study
Topic
Animal Health and Welfare
Incident / Exercise
Incident: Avian Influenza (H5N1) outbreak at Bernard Matthews site
in Holton, Suffolk in February 2007.
Background and Context
Avian Influenza was diagnosed in turkeys in rearing sheds at a
multi-operation site at Holton, Suffolk. The site owner was Bernard
Matthews, a high-profile multi-national operation. All turkeys at the site
were culled. All persons coming into contact with the infected birds were
offered health screening. Restriction and surveillance zones were enforced
from 2 February to 12 March 2007. Domestic and wild fowl within the
surveillance zone were monitored for signs of disease.
How the Topic was Handled
Unlike most other emergencies, in an exotic animal disease outbreak, a
central government department is directly responsible for both the national
and local response. This is because an outbreak has the potential to spread
rapidly and quickly become a national issue. In accordance with EU
legislation, a Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC) led by a Defra Regional
Operations Director (ROD) is established at the local Divisional Office
(AHDO) of Animal Health, an executive agency of Defra, to manage the
outbreak. Defra’s National Disease Control Centre (NDCC) is established in
London to provide strategic direction to the disease control operation. Key
local stakeholders (eg. Local Authority trading standards officers,
Environment Agency, HPA, etc) involved in managing the disease outbreak are
represented in the LDCC.
In this outbreak as described above, the State Veterinary Service (SVS -
now Animal Health) was the lead agency and they created a Local Disease
Control Centre (LDCC) at their regional offices at Southgate Street Bury St
Edmunds.
Suffolk Trading Standards were advised by the SVS at 19.15hrs on 1 February
2007 of a possible Avian Influenza or Newcastle’s disease outbreak at the
Bernard Matthews site in Holten near Halesworth Suffolk. Samples were taken
at 10:00hrs on 2 February and Avian Influenza was confirmed by 22:00 hrs on
2 February.
By 01:00hrs on 3 February, a briefing took place at Martlesham Police HQ
attended by trading standards, the Suffolk County Council communications
team, the Director of Public Protection and Suffolk police. At this time,
both the Suffolk Resilience Forum Exotic Diseases Contingency Plan and the
Suffolk Trading Standards specific Avian Influenza Plan were activated.
By 04:00hrs, Trading Standards staff were woken and asked to report to
Endeavour House. By 05:00hrs, Trading Standards staff started to arrive to
man the Trading Standards control area at Endeavour House, Ipswich. Soon
after at 06:30hrs, Police arrived at the Holton site to secure the
perimeter and set up a mobile Police unit. At 07:30hrs, Trading Standards
and Communications Officers arrive at the Holton site to deal with the
media interest that was rapidly building.
In London, officers from LACORS attended the Defra National Disease Control
Centre (NDCC) meetings (the NDCC was strategically managing the outbreak)
and liaised with Suffolk Trading Standards and all local authorities on
current developments and policies. At 12:00hrs on 3 February, confirmation
was received that the avian influenza outbreak was H5N1 at which time
Emergency Planning established the County Emergency Centre (CEC) on the
ground floor of Endeavour House. Also at 12:00hrs a Strategic Co-ordination
Group (Gold) meeting was held at Martlesham Police HQ during which
representatives from all the major agencies involved met to agree an
initial response. Soon after this, at 13:00hrs, the SVS held their first
bird table meeting at the LDCC with government representatives and local
agencies to ensure a co-ordinated government response to the disease
outbreak.
At 14:00hrs, the first AI Declaratory Order came into force placing
controls on poultry keepers, such as the housing of all poultry within a
3km and 10km protection and surveillance zone. During that afternoon,
Environment and Transport and Trading Standards met to map the legally
required 3k and 10k restriction zones. The positioning of the signs was
agreed and the available stock of 40 road signs started to be deployed on
major roads by 15:00hrs that afternoon.
At 09:00hrs on 4 February, the second Declaratory Order came into force
creating a wider restricted zone covering from Lowestoft to Woodbridge
extending out to the A140 Ipswich to Norwich road. The Fire Service started
to deliver letters to all known poultry keepers in the zones. Trading
standards also started to make visual checks within the surveillance and
restriction zones to ensure poultry were correctly housed.
An update meeting took place that afternoon in the CEC during which
representatives from each of the directorates attended to ensure they were
up to date with the situation so far. The duty director attended to allow
corporate decisions to be made straight away.
By late afternoon, the transport operation, managed from the LDCC as in the
response to all disease control issues, was underway. Officers from trading
standards, district councils and other agencies escorted the lorries,
loaded with the dead birds from the site in Holton to a slaughterhouse in
Staffordshire.
During 5 February, Suffolk County Council started to print and post 92,000
letters advising all residents and businesses within the controlled zones
of the restrictions placed on them as a result of the outbreak. At
11:00hrs, Trading Standards and SVS staff started to conduct door-to-door
enquiries to identify all poultry keepers within the Protection zone. This
exercise took two days.
During February, officers from trading standards continued to visit and
inspect poultry premises in all three AI control zones. The SVS bird table
meetings were gradually reduced as the extent of the outbreak was confirmed
and controlled.
Throughout the outbreak, the Health Protection Agency advised on human
disease issues and allocated anti-viral drugs to personnel that may have
come into contact with infected birds. The Health Protection Agency was
represented at both the LDCC and the NDCC. Customer Services Direct
assisted with IT and the manning of the Avian Influenza help line. Other
agencies involved were neighbouring Local Authorities that sent Trading
Standards officers to man the Trading Standards control area and help in
the LDCC, and the RSPCA that assisted by rounding up stray poultry.
On 12 March 2007, all restrictions were lifted after no further outbreaks
of AI were discovered within the control zones.
Costs
Currently the estimated additional costs for Suffolk County Council Trading
Standards for dealing with the Avian Influenza outbreak are:
-
Signage - £6000
-
Mailshot - £23000
-
Equipment - £3575
-
Additional mileage - £2000
-
Overtime - £16000
-
Total = £50,575
Lessons Identified
-
Response to animal diseases is, by necessity, a fast moving operation.
Before this outbreak was confirmed, Suffolk had 1 day to contact local
stakeholders and prepare. Agencies must consider bringing in staff to
make preparations if notified of a suspect case outside of normal office
hours.
-
During an outbreak, it is vital to manage the media. Whilst in this
outbreak some media interviews were given at the site, media interviews
are NOT encouraged at infected premises so as not to hamper operational
matters by encouraging a large media presence. Media do head to sites
where activity is occurring and Defra will send a Government News Network
(GNN) press officer to supervise and disseminate information, but
responding organisations should not encourage the media by providing a
spokesperson at the scene. All media interviews should be conducted from
the LDCC and no portable media facilities should be provided at the site.
-
During the initial response to the outbreak, it became apparent that some
equipment and IT services were not available during the weekend.
Telephone recorded messages were not accessible and the Trading Standards
IT system was not available overnight. Agencies should ensure that all
necessary equipment, IT services and personnel are always available.
-
Suffolk Trading Standards had a specific plan for dealing with Avian
Influenza with agreed processes and procedures for undertaking the known
tasks for an Avian Influenza outbreak. Contingency plans should be
written in a way that allows individual tasks to be easily identified and
allocated, and all plans should be written to complement the Defra/Animal
Health Exotic Animal Disease Contingency Plans
Contacts for Further Information
Animal Health, Animal Health Divisional Office
100 Southgate Street
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk
IP33 2BD
Tel: 01284 778150
Email: A.H.Bury-St-Edmunds@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Suffolk Police
Suffolk Constabulary Headquarters
Martlesham Heath
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP5 3QS
Tel: 01473 613500
Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit
B3GF
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2BX
Tel: 01473 265321
Email: emergency.planning@epu.suffolkcc.gov.uk
Consumer Direct
2nd Floor, Kings Court
Stevenage
Hert’s
SG1 2TP
Tel: 01438 737249
Email eecg@consumerdirect-eastofengland.gov.uk
Suffolk Health Protection Unit
PO Box 170
South Building South Building
Foxhall Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
Tel: 01473 329000
Email: suffolkHPU@hpa.org.uk
Environment Agency
Eastern Area Office
Cobham Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP3 9JE
Tel: 08708 506506
Highways, Environment and Transport, Highways Management
Central Area Highways Management
Central Area
Lodge Lane
Gt Blakenham
IP6 OJE
Tel: 01473 588701
