THE first case of avian flu was confirmed in Britain last night as it emerged that fears about the disease had prompted a chronic shortage of flu vaccine.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that a parrot that died in quarantine after being imported from South America last month had the H5 strain of the bird flu virus. The case does not affect Britain’s disease-free status because the it was identified during quarantine.

The largest British supplier of vaccines to treat seasonal human flu told The Times last night that it had already distributed all its reserve stock and GPs said that demand from patients was unprecedented.

The Government insists that it has enough of the vaccine to cover the elderly and those at high risk, but millions of others not in those groups have been warned that supplies are likely to run out within weeks.

The greatest impact is likely to be felt by companies who offer flu jabs to their employees, most of whom are not classified as being at high risk and are therefore not eligible for vaccination on the NHS.

Experts have blamed the surge in demand on public fears over bird flu, although the vaccine would not prevent someone catching the disease. Demand has also been increased this year by the call by the Department of Health for more than a million children with asthma or diabetes to be vaccinated.

A spokesman for Sanofi Pasteur MSD, the largest British supplier of flu vaccines, said that all its reserve had now been sent out.

“We keep some stock in reserve for top-up orders,” he said. “Usually that starts going out from the end of October onwards, but all of it has already been requested and has been delivered or will be delivered shortly. This is quicker than last year. We would expect that the bulk of these top-up orders will be for primary care GPs.”

Solvay Healthcare, another large supplier, said that it had sold out. A spokesman for the company said: “There has been additional demand from at-risk patients who would not normally come forward for a vaccine.”

The British Medical Association agreed that there had been a noticeable increase in demand. “A lot of patients who have refused vaccination in the past have changed their minds, and they are asking for it,” a spokeswoman said.

A doctor at a private clinic said that last year he had sold only ten vaccines over the entire winter period but this month had been selling up to 30 a day. John Knottenbelt said: “The big problem is finding the supplies. It is very, very difficult stuff to get hold of. All the major suppliers seem to be out of stock.”

A spokewoman for Barlow Surgery, in northwest London, said: “Far more people than normal have been coming in for flu vaccinations. Our supplies are running out very fast.”

A spokeswoman for Grovelands Medical Centre, in Reading, said: “More people are asking questions and people are having the injection who don’t usually request it. We do have enough for the usual demand, but we cannot be sure that will be enough in the long term.”

The Department of Health insisted last night that it had ordered enough for vulnerable groups. “We bought 14 million doses for this year,” a spokeswoman said. “There are 11 million people who are either over 65 or in the high-risk groups, so there will be enough for them all, even if we got 100 per cent take-up.”

The problem is believed to have been made worse by delays in World Health Organisation information on the flu strains circulating this year.

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