July 5, 2011

Lithuania hit by swine flu

After the discovery of a new outbreak of swine flu on a farm in the centre of the Baltic state, Lithuania culled 2,045 pigs there, they said on Monday (Jul 4).

"The presence of the virus was confirmed in several pigsties on the farm and the slaughter of the livestock has begun," Vidmantas Paulauskas, deputy director of Lithuania's national veterinary service said.

The outbreak occurred within a five-kilometre (three-mile) quarantine zone slapped around several other farms near the central city of Kaunas after an outbreak in early June.

The export and import of live pigs to and from Lithuania, an EU member since 2004 has been restricted since the June outbreak and it remained unclear how long that would remain in place.

Lithuania has notified its neighbours as well as European and international veterinary authorities about the outbreak.

Swine fever is highly contagious and usually proves fatal in pigs, but does not harm humans.