May 14, 2011

Dutch avian flu belongs to low-pathogenic form

The avian flu found at a Dutch poultry farm is of the less dangerous, low-pathogenic forms, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Agriculture said on Friday (May 13).

"The contamination probably comes from wild birds that have spread the virus through their excrement," the ministry said in a statement.

Dutch authorities on Thursday (May 12) said they would destroy 8,800 chickens at an organic poultry farm in central Netherlands after the discovery of bird flu, the second such case in the country in two months.