AN OUTBREAK of a bird disease that can wipe out entire flocks was confirmed by the Government last night, fuelling a new scare in the countryside.

A case of Newcastle’s disease in Surrey led to an immediate ban on all exports of live birds, hatching eggs, meat and eggs outside the European Union.

The disease is as damaging to the poultry industry as foot-and-mouth is to livestock. It is almost always fatal to birds and can cause conjunctivitis in adults and children in contact with infected animals.

The banned exports are worth £114 million a year and mainly consist of the export of cheaper cuts such as chicken, turkey and duck wings and feet to the Far East.

There was concern last night that the European Commission might also decide to ban these exports to the continent. This would be a blow to industry because this EU market is worth more than £300 million a year.

It was also unclear whether the ban would affect ready meals and any other food products that contained poultry, pheasant or egg.

A spokeswoman for the Food and Drink Federation said: “We are seeking urgent clarification but it may depend on the European Commission.”

The flock of 9,000 pheasant on a farm that rears game birds for shooting near West Horsley and Reigate is to be slaughtered this weekend in the first case in the country for eight years.

Government vets imposed a one-mile exclusion zone around the infected farm to halt spread of the disease.

The affected chicks are just two weeks old and were imported from France a fortnight ago. Debbie Reynolds, the Government’s Chief Veterinary Officer, is now urgently checking whether any other consignments of pheasants are in Britain. The French immediately stopped further exports of pheasants to Britain.

Vets are still investigating whether the chicks were infected when they arrived in Britain or if they contracted the disease here. No further details of the farm at the centre of the alert were disclosed. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the information was not appropriate at this stage.

Vets are also tracing the lorry driver who imported the chicks to find out where other infected birds may have been taken. There are no chicken farms in the immediate vicinity though one of the main poultry production areas of England is in the adjacent county of Kent.

Although most breeding and egg-laying birds are routinely vaccinated against the disease, most chickens reared for meat are not. Peter Bradnock, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said: “We suspect the threat is confined to southern England and farmers will already be getting their birds vaccinated.”

Vets are to start culling the birds today. It had not been decided last night if they were to be shot or their necks wrung. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted that the method would be humane. Ms Reynolds insisted this was not “avian flu”. Anyone who keeps poultry or game birds is being urged to arrange for them to be vaccinated as soon as possible because the virus can spread virulently in wildlife.

It can affect turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, pheasants, guinea fowl and other wild and captive birds as well as ostriches, emus and rhea. Farmers and gamekeepers are reminded that the disease is notifiable and that they should look out for symptoms such as depression, lack of appetite, breathing difficulties, coughing, sneezing and diarrhoea. It is spread mainly through the faces of infected birds or contaminated feed, water, equipment, premises and even human clothing.

Newcastle’s disease was first known in Britain in the 1930s and there have been seven outbreaks since then, the last in 1997. The most recent outbreaks have been in California in 2003 and Denmark in 2002.

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