Day 091 - 17 Feb 95 - Page 19


     
     1   Q.   How big are the breeding flocks?
     2        A.  Breeding flocks are usually about 25,000 birds.
     3
     4   Q.   So was that one outbreak or was there more than one
     5        outbreak?
     6        A.  There were two outbreaks, two flocks.
     7
     8   Q.   And each time about 4 per cent of the birds?
     9        A.  That is correct.
    10
    11   Q.   What about birds that were affected that did not die?
    12        A.  With Marek's disease if the birds get the infection
    13        they die.  If they do not, they live.  The ones that are
    14        unaffected do not show any clinical signs.
    15
    16   Q.   Can they not be affected with paralysis without dying?
    17        A.  Paralysis is part of Marek's disease.  They can also
    18        get tumours as well.  If they get the disease they die.  If
    19        they do not, they live.
    20
    21   Q.   All of them?  None of them ever -- how long would they be
    22        suffering from the disease before they died?
    23        A.  You do not see clinical signs for very long.  I think
    24        this is really a reflection that tumours in birds do not
    25        seem to cause any very marked clinical signs.  Maybe like
    26        cancer in human beings they start to lose weight and would
    27        be ill for maybe about a week before they die.
    28
    29   Q.   When the outbreak of Marek's disease occurred, did you kill
    30        the whole flock?
    31        A.  No.
    32
    33   Q.   What about Newcastle disease, how frequently does that
    34        occur?
    35        A.  Newcastle disease is a notifiable disease to the
    36        Ministry of Agriculture.  It was the scourge of the poultry
    37        industry 30 years ago.  Vaccines were introduced for this
    38        condition in the early 1970s and since that time the
    39        condition has been virtually eradicated.  It is still seen
    40        in Europe but it is very rare in the UK now.
    41
    42   Q.   When was the last time that you saw an outbreak of that?
    43        A.  I have not actually seen an outbreak of Newcastle
    44        disease since the early 70s.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Have you got to the end of the specific
    47        diseases?
    48
    49   MS. STEEL:  The specific ones, yes.
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We will take our five-minute break now. 
    52 
    53                       (Short Adjournment)
    54
    55   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, if we have left diseases -----
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not know whether we have left diseases.
    58        We may have reached the end of the list of specific ones, I
    59        think.
    60

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