January 24, 2007

 

Hungary suspects bird flu outbreak in Csongrad

 

 

The Hungarian government said Tuesday (Jan 23) it suspects an outbreak of bird flu in Csongrad country, in the south of the country, bordering Romania and Serbia.

 

"We cannot exclude the possibility of bird flu," Hungary's Chief Veterinarian Miklos Suth told the press. He added the virus hasn't yet been isolated for identification.

 

Hungary will need up to 14 days to identify the virus if it's not bird flu or if its a less pathogenic variation than the H5N1 strain, Suth added.

 

A total 28 geese fell dead between Jan 19 and Jan 21 at a farm in Csongrad county. Veterinarians found another 30 to 40 live geese at the farm showing symptoms of malfunction of the nervous system, Suth said.

 

The authorities suspect bird flu may be behind the cases since people living in the area said large numbers of wild duck rested nearby between Christmas and the New Year.

 

Despite not having clear evidence for the bird flu virus, culling of the 3,300 poultry at the farm has started. So far, 1,600 geese have been culled.

 

Suth stressed the infected geese couldn't contaminate food supplies since they were held as breeding stock.

 

We have started to cull the birds as a preventive measure," Suth said.

 

There are 18 poultry breeders with 43,470 poultry within 10 kilometres of the Csongrad farm, Suth added.

 

Hungary informed European Union authorities of the outbreak and the measures taken Monday night, Suth said.

 

Hungary hopes the outbreak won't stall its recently recovering food exports to Russia, which suffered a setback after last year's bird flu outbreak in Hungary.

 

"We could relaunch the exports of poultry and pork as the Russian authorities had found the performance of the Hungarian authorities excellent; which means that Russian consumers may only receive products that have been tested," Suth added.