June 12, 2006

EU says Hungarian geese have H5 bird flu
 

A flock of geese in Hungary have H5 bird flu, the European Commission said Friday (Jun 9).

Further tests are required to determine whether this is the H5N1 strain. Samples are being sent to the European Union laboratory in Weybridge, UK.

"The flock was situated in a county where cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza occurred in wild birds earlier this year," the Commission said in a statement. "Although the measures applied in response to the wild bird cases had been lifted, a high level of surveillance was maintained in the area, which enabled the rapid detection of the outbreak in the domestic geese."

About 2,300 geese in the flock have been culled as well as all poultry, including farmed ducks and geese, in a 1-kilometer radius around the outbreak. A high-risk area has been established around the outbreak with a 3-kilometre protection zone and 10-kilometre surveillance zone.

In the protection zone, poultry must be kept indoors, movement of poultry is banned except directly to the slaughterhouse and the dispatch of meat outside the zone is forbidden.

If confirmed as an outbreak of H5N1, the Commission said it would constitute the fifth outbreak of high pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in domestic poultry of an EU country. Previous outbreaks occurred in domestic poultry in France, Sweden, Germany and Denmark. Cases of H5N1 have occurred in wild birds in 13 member States of the EU to date.