The Cabinet was briefed on the bird flu situation by Minister for Agriculture and Food Mary Coughlan yesterday as the disease continued its spread around the globe, writes Sean MacConnell, Agriculture Correspondent
Following the meeting, she said the recent spread of the disease in Europe had increased the risk of its introduction here but a range of measures were in place to deal with it and all aspects of a contingency plan were being kept under active review.
The expert group she established under the chairmanship of Prof Michael Monaghan to advise her on control measures is to hold its inaugural meeting today.
It has already been asked to determine whether or not free-range poultry should be housed because of the increased risk from the avian flu, which has killed more than 90 people in Asia and caused the culling of millions of birds.
It was also announced yesterday that Minister for Health Mary Harney will travel to Vienna on Friday to attend a meeting of EU health ministers on how to cope with the growing crisis.
A circular from the Department of Health yesterday said that of the few avian flu viruses that have crossed the species barrier to infect humans, the H5N1 strain has caused the largest number of cases of severe disease and death in humans.
Describing it as following "an unusually aggressive clinical course" when a human is infected, it added that in the present outbreak more than half of those infected had died. Most cases were in previously healthy children and young adults.
Hungary and Croatia confirmed they had found the potentially deadly strain of the disease yesterday, bringing to 15 the number of countries that have identified it so far this month.
The World Health Organisation said that while no human cases of bird flu had been found in India, Egypt or Nigeria - countries where H5N1 has been found in birds - transmission risks remain as long as the virus is present.
"There is really no time frame. As long as the virus is circulating it could jump into humans," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said in Geneva.
In India, 12 people have been quarantined in the town of Navapur, about 300km north of Mumbai, and three others are under observation in Vaira in neighbouring Gujarat state, according to the WHO.
Thousands of people have been tested for the disease since it was confirmed in wild birds there earlier in the week. The UN reported yesterday that Tamiflu, which is being stockpiled by many countries to treat bird flu in humans, is being counterfeited and sold on the internet.