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| Bird flu strains almost identical | Bird flu strains almost identical |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| The strains of H5N1 bird flu found in the UK and Hungary are "essentially identical", scientists have said. | |
| They found the virus that killed turkeys at the Bernard Matthews plant in Holton, Suffolk, was 99.96% similar to one that infected geese in Hungary. | |
| Deputy chief vet Fred Landeg said the most likely transmission route for the outbreak was from poultry to poultry but investigations were continuing. | |
| No evidence of "illegal" movements of poultry products has been found. | |
| The analysis of the strains was carried out by the Veterinary Laboratory Agency (VLA). | |
| VLA chief avian virologist Ian Brown said: "Although other European viruses have shown close relationships to these viruses, these levels of identity are much closer than with other Asian lineage H5 viruses for which data is available, including those isolated from wild birds in Europe in 2005/06. | |
| "The comparison between the UK and Hungarian viruses reveals a high level of genetic match which cannot be said of other European virus strains." | |
| Mr Landeg said the Hungarian authorities had been informed about the test results. | |
| Investigators in Hungary say they can find no evidence that exported meat was responsible for the UK outbreak | |
| Hungary denials | |
| EU spokesman Philip Tod said: "Based on their investigation, no animals were sent to either slaughterhouse from the restricted zone since November 2006. | |
| "According to the Hungarian authorities, the meat couldn't be the vector for transmission." | |
| Mr Tod said the investigation was continuing into other possible ways that bird flu could have spread from Hungary to England. | |
| Meanwhile in Budapest, Hungary's Chief Vet Miklos Suth told reporters that no live birds or eggs had been exported from his country. | |
| He denied reports claiming that geese in Hungary infected with bird flu had been culled at the same plant in the city of Kecwskemet that had processed turkeys exported to England. | |
| And he said the EU laboratory in Weybridge had told him that samples which were genetically similar to the H5N1 virus found in Hungary had also been found in the Ukraine, France, Scotland and Slovenia. | |
| Laszlo Barany, chairman of the Hungarian Poultry Council, accused the British media of trying to blame Hungary for the Suffolk outbreak. |