July 5, 2006

EU extends ban on Asian poultry for another year

An import ban on the import of poultry products from China, Malaysia and Thailand has been extended until the end of December 2007 due to the persistence of the disease in the region, the European Commission announced this week.

An embargo on poultry meat exports from Turkey would be extended until the end of this year.

While China still had bird flu cases as recently as June 2006 in its Xinjiang region, bird flu in Malaysia and Thailand are believed to be on the wane as no major outbreaks have been reported in the last 3 months. However, Thailand showed signs of the disease recurring as it reported hundreds of chickens dying of an unknown disease in its northern region in early July.

Health experts fear the H5N1 strain of bird flu could mutate into a form that is transmitted more easily between humans.