The European Commission called on Tuesday 8 November for vigilance by the countries of the EU following the confirmation of recent outbreaks of avian influenza (highly pathogenic subtype H5N8) in Hungary.
The Hungarian authorities immediately applied the control measures laid down in EU legislation, the Commission says in a press release. The protective measures to prevent the spread of the outbreak from the affected areas (Directive 2005/94 on Community measures for the control of avian influenza) were reviewed and supported at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF) on Monday 7 November.
At the same meeting, the Commission also presented an update of EU control measures to combat the spread of African swine fever in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The new measures take account of the positive developments in the situation in the domestic pig sector in Latvia and Lithuania, and lifted some of the existing restrictions on pig farming. New cases of African swine fever were recorded in wild boar in Latvia and Poland, leading to an adjustment of the restricted areas in these two countries. The Commission stressed the importance of higher biosecurity in pig farms and the need for targeted depopulation measures for wild boars avoiding counterproductive massive hunting. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)