A DOCTOR is urging residents not to panic after bird flu was discovered in eastern Europe.

Dr Mathi Chandra Kumar made his plea after the virus, H5N1, was discovered in Turkey and Romania last week.

Experts fear it could hit the UK and kill as many as 50,000 people.

The Government is stockpiling an anti-viral drug.

And a vaccine could take five months to develop.

The doctor and director of Kent Health Protection Unit said: "If it comes to western Europe it would be an avian flu at first.

"We would have to wait until it mutated to humans before we could develop a vaccine to stop people catching it."

He added: "People shouldn't panic, there's no immediate threat.

"We are doing all we can to prevent an epidemic."

Bird flu could be spread from wild birds to domestic ones, including chickens and ducks.

Prize-winning pigeon racer Joyce Sparks, of St Gregory's Crescent, Gravesend, has kept more than 50 birds for the past 60 years.

The 74-year-old said: "If it came to Gravesend we would lock the pigeons away. But if they got sick we would get rid of them."

She added: "It would be sad, they are like my children."

Experts believe monitoring migration patterns could alert them to arrivals of infected flocks.

More than 300,000 ducks from Siberia and Scandinavia visit the Thames Estuary each Winter with 200 heading to the north Kent marshes.

The RSPB, which monitors birds at Shorne Marshes, believes the risks are low.

A north Kent spokesman said: "A small number of wild ducks, including Teal and Wigeon, visit Shorn Marshes each but the risk of avian flu is small."

A north Kent spokesman for the Nation Union of Farmers said: "The World Health Organisation has said there's no risk from eating well-cooked poultry meat."

He added: "We are advising members how to protect their birds."

VIRUS FACTS

There are 15 types of bird flu but the deadly strain, which it is thought can be passed to humans, is called H5N1.

In Asia 60 people and 125m birds have already died after catching the virus.

The elderly and those with breathing problems, including asthma, are most at risk.

Symptoms include fever, sore throat, cough and people can develop conjunctivitis.

Experts predict it could kill between 2m and 50m people worldwide, and 50,000 in the UK.

H5N1 was found in Turkey and Romania last week.

The Government has currently ordered 14.6m doses of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu.

To report large clusters of dead or dying birds, call the DEFRA hotline on 08459 335577 or visit defra.gov.uk