Hungary poultry bird flu outbreak was H5N1 -report
2006-06-14 07:29
The outbreak of avian influenza among Hungarian geese last week was certainly the deadly H5N1 type, the farm minister was quoted as saying, but he added that the UK lab testing the samples had not confirmed it as yet, reports Reuters.
Hungarian officials said last week they suspected the H5N1strain had infected the geese in the southeast of Hungary because that type had infected wild birds in Hungary and poultry elsewhere in the region, with Romania worst hit.
"It can be taken as certain that the H5N1 type of bird flu infected the poultry stock in Bacs-Kiskun county," Agriculture Minister Jozsef Graf was quoted as saying by business daily Vilaggazdasag. He said the laboratory results from the UK would arrive in Budapest later on Wednesday or Thursday.
Hungary has already slaughtered over 300,000 poultry, mainlyducks and geese in the affected area, and it may cull up to halfa million in total, the ministry said earlier this week.Graf said in another interview on public television onWednesday that Hungary's farmers would be unable to keep theirducks and geese indoors to isolate them from wild birds due tooutdated technology.
"The technology they are using is totally obsolete, it is basically a foil tent, and just a few planks stop the birds fromgoing out into the open," Graf said. "We must change thetechnology."
2006-06-14 07:29
The outbreak of avian influenza among Hungarian geese last week was certainly the deadly H5N1 type, the farm minister was quoted as saying, but he added that the UK lab testing the samples had not confirmed it as yet, reports Reuters.
Hungarian officials said last week they suspected the H5N1strain had infected the geese in the southeast of Hungary because that type had infected wild birds in Hungary and poultry elsewhere in the region, with Romania worst hit.
"It can be taken as certain that the H5N1 type of bird flu infected the poultry stock in Bacs-Kiskun county," Agriculture Minister Jozsef Graf was quoted as saying by business daily Vilaggazdasag. He said the laboratory results from the UK would arrive in Budapest later on Wednesday or Thursday.
Hungary has already slaughtered over 300,000 poultry, mainlyducks and geese in the affected area, and it may cull up to halfa million in total, the ministry said earlier this week.Graf said in another interview on public television onWednesday that Hungary's farmers would be unable to keep theirducks and geese indoors to isolate them from wild birds due tooutdated technology.
"The technology they are using is totally obsolete, it is basically a foil tent, and just a few planks stop the birds fromgoing out into the open," Graf said. "We must change thetechnology."