Brussels, 25/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission announced the discovery of a “highly pathogenic” strain of avian flu virus at a goose farm in Hungary. This is the first case of bird flu notified in the EU since August 2006, when an infected bird had been discovered in Dresden Zoo, Germany. EU member states, that will be looking at the matter on Friday 26 January during a meeting in Brussels at veterinary expert level, “continue to apply strict biosafety measures to minimise risk as far as possible”, the Commission seeks to reassure. These biosafety measures consist in avoiding all contact with wild and domestic fowl (ministerial decree of 24 October 2005).
Tests carried out by the national Hungarian laboratory have confirmed the presence of a “highly pathogenic” H5 avian flu virus in a farm of over 3,000 geese in the region of Csongràd, in south-east Hungary. Samples have been sent to the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge, UK, to determine whether this is the H5N1 virus that is potentially fatal in humans. The Hungarian authorities have ordered a cull of the infected poultry to prevent the virus spreading. They have also set up Community measures required to combat the epizootic, namely a protected zone at a radius of 3 km around the farm affected and a 10 km radius monitoring area around the farm. Within the protection zone, all poultry must be kept indoors and all transport of poultry prohibited.
The risk of an outbreak of an avian flu epizootic on European soil will be discussed this Friday when EU veterinary experts meet. The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health will look in particular at the measures taken by the Hungarian authorities.
Between the end of 2005 and summer 2006, 14 countries of the EU25 (16 with Romania and Bulgaria) had been affected by cases of the H5N1 virus on their territory, more often than not among wild birds but also in poultry. The epizootic had caused poultry prices and poultry consumption to plummet and the EU had approved Community intervention to support the poultry sector.
The latest reports forwarded to the International Office of Epizootics (IOE) show that there has been an upsurge in this animal disease. Several countries that had managed to eradicate the infection have been affected again (Vietnam and South Korea). New cases have been detected in China and Japan, and the situation remains worrying in Egypt and Indonesia, where the disease is now becoming widespread. According to the World Health Organisation, these different outbreaks could point to an eventual outbreak of the epizootic in the northern hemisphere (Europe, Asia and America). (lc)