January 30, 2007

Hungary suspects further bird flu case in south-eastern region

Hungary suspects the outbreak of a further bird flu case in the south-east, the agriculture ministry said Monday (Jan 29).

Veterinarians found four-week old geese at a breeding site Friday with symptoms that gave reason to suspect an outbreak of the disease, the ministry said in a release.

The farm is located in Derekegyhaz, in Csongrad county, where Hungary already identified a highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus last week.

Animal health care authorities ordered the culling of 9,400 geese Saturday morning on suspicion of the virus. Samples have been sent to the national reference laboratory.

Poultry in a three-kilometre circle around the farm have been examined and they are symptom-free. There are four farms with 367 poultry within one kilometre and 29 farms with 535 poultry within three kilometres around the suspected outbreak.

Last week's Hungarian bird flu outbreak was the first incidence of highly pathogenic bird flu in the EU since August 2006.