News / EU

Czech Republic reports bird flu cases

Wednesday, 04 January 2017 1:11 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 04 January 2017 1:11 PM ]

The file photo shows a poultry farm in the Czech Republic.

Authorities in the Czech Republic have reported cases of the highly-contagious bird flu southeast of the country.

Agriculture Minister Marian Jurecka said on Wednesday that the virus had been detected in dead swans in Moravia and in family farms in Moravsky Krumlov and Ivancice.

He added that it was the first case of bird flu in the country in roughly ten years.

Zbynek Semerad, the head of the State Veterinary Administration, confirmed the cases and said authorities were waiting for test results to know if the disease was the same as the H5N8 strain that has been detected in over a dozen European countries, including Britain, France and Germany, since October.

Semerad said that earlier tests had confirmed the highly contagious H5 type of the virus, adding that it was "assumed" that an N8 sub-type was present.

Infected premises in Ivancice and Moravsky Krumlov were quarantined. Authorities defined a 3- and a 10-kilometer zone around the premises, respectively. Regular checks were also put in place for about 150,000 poultry.

Some reports said all poultry at neighboring farms were to be culled. Other reports said the slaughter was only limited to infected birds. Local media said 20 animals had already been killed in Ivancice and another 100 were slated for culling in Moravsky Krumlov.

Czech vets culled more than 171,000 animals in large farms and more than 1,900 in family farms when the last major bird flu case was reported in the country in 2007.

The flu strain in the Czech Republic seems to have come from Hungary, where at least some 200 cases have been reported in farms and in wild birds over the past three months.

Germany and Slovakia and other European countries have also reported H5N8 strain recently.

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