Thousands of goslings showing symptoms of bird flu were culled
near Derekegyhaz in southeast Hungary at the weekend, the
Agriculture Ministry told MTI news agency on Monday.
Some birds in the four-week-old stock showed neural symptoms on
Friday, suggesting that they had been infected by the bird flu
virus.
A forensic veterinary examination raised the suspicion of a
bacterial infection. Although the disease could not be diagnosed,
all the 9,400 goslings kept on the farm near Derekegyhaz were
culled on Saturday.
Samples of the bodies of the geese have been sent to Budapest
for testing.
The European Union's central laboratory in Britain has meanwhile
confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain in birds culled in
Hungary last week, European Commission's Health and Consumer
Protection spokesperson Philip Tod said on Monday.
This is the first reappearance of the H5N1 virus strain in the
European Union since last summer, he said.
Tod noted that the late winter period is especially dangerous
from the point of bird flu and extra precautions are necessary in
all EU countries.
The Bulgarian Agriculture and Forestry Ministry announced Monday
to ban the sale of live birds to prevent the spread of the bird flu
virus which is registered in Hungary, BTA reported.
The ban also urged the poultry farm managers in all Danube and
Black Sea towns to restrain their birds indoor, said BTA, citing
news from the press center of the ministry.
The ministry ordered all the local municipalities to hold
meetings of the epidemic commissions and to carry out all necessary
measures to prevent the avian flu.
The general director of the National Veterinary-medical Agency
is authorized to take controls to all the poultry farms and to
ensure effects of the current disinfection technique and
equipment.
The Ministry also asked all border veterinary points to pay more
attention to the poultry products imported by passengers from third
countries.
Meanwhile, the Romanian authorities have taken serious
precautions along the border to prevent the virus from spreading
into the country, the national Rompres news agency reported on
Monday.
The Medical and Veterinary Authority informed all border
checkpoints in Romania and asked them to step up checks to prevent
the entry of poultry or related products originating from Hungary
where bird flu was reported, Rompres said.
It added that veterinary authorities in several counties close
to the border with Hungary will also step up checks in local
poultry farms and will strictly monitor communities of migrating
birds in the area.
"Imports of live poultry, meat and meat-related products from a
ten-kilometer area surrounding the bird flu outbreak in the
southeast of Hungary will be restricted. Imports from the rest of
the Hungarian territory will still be able to reach the Romanian
market," head of the Romanian Veterinary Authority Marian Avram was
cited as saying earlier.
Veterinary inspectors in western Romanian Counties of Timis and
Arad have already begun checks to confirm whether local poultry
farms had adopted bio-security measures and whether local
residents, especially those living near lakes or rivers, had kept
their poultry locked in order to avoid contacts with migrating
birds.
Meanwhile, in Arad, samples tests on 16 dead chickens and
several pigeons found dead were confirmed negative for the presence
of the H5 bird flu virus.
The Hungarian bird flu outbreak is located only 60 kilometers
away from Arad.
(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2007)
