Czech And Slovenia Report Avian Influenza Outbreak: Hundreds Of Thousands Of Poultry And One Million Eggs Killed

Illustration of bird flu. (Wikimedia Commons/Roee Shpernik)

JAKARTA - The Czech Republic began culling 80,000 laying hens after the country reported an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza at a poultry farm in Libotenice since last week.

Of the 188,000 uploads from the farm, located about 60 kilometers north of Prague, more than half died over the Christmas holidays, followed by an additional 8,000 since December 27.

Veterinarians estimate they will culminate the remaining poultry and destroy about a million eggs by Wednesday. According to the State Administration of Veterinary Medicine, this is one of the largest outbreaks in the country's history.

"This is, in my opinion, the largest outbreak that has actually emerged in the country, because initially there were about 200,000 animals that were meant to be culled," said veterinarian Lenka Hanusova at the State Veterinary Administration, citing Euronews Dec. 29.

The disease subtype H5N1, which is potentially transmissible to humans, was confirmed at the farm on Dec. 23. Since the first symptoms of bird flu, the eggs have remained on the farm and nothing has entered the market.

As a result of this condition, the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic estimated the losses at 20 million Czech koruna or 802,005 euros.

Illustration of bird flu. (Wikimedia Commons/USAID Vietnam)

Meanwhile, another bird flu outbreak has been detected in Hovorany, in the southern Moravian region of the Czech Republic. On Monday, pheasant farm owners reported mass deaths of around 1,000 birds.

The State Administration of Veterinary Medicine later confirmed that the pheasants had contracted the bird flu virus and that another 5,000 birds would be culled.

Separately across the border in Slovenia, the Balkan nation also reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus on a small poultry farm in the east of the country, the Slovenian Veterinary and Security Services Agency (UVHVVR) said Monday.

The first death was a goose, with post-mortem tests revealing the bird died of bird flu.

"The goose is dead," said Breda Hrovatin of the government's Animal Health and Welfare Sector.

"Today we received the test results. We determined that this goose was positive for bird flu. This is the first case in Slovenia. We have never seen that before although we have experience with wild birds," added Hrovatin.

On Tuesday, a small farm in northeastern Slovenia was placed in quarantine, after cases of bird flu were detected there.

Slovenian authorities also confirmed the outbreak on a small farm in Slovenska Bistrica was under control, after a veterinarian reported an increase in poultry deaths on the farm on Sunday.

Authorities said all necessary measures had been implemented in the infected areas and called on farmers to immediately report any new suspicious cases.

To note, many cases of H5N1 bird flu have been reported across Europe since early December, and veterinarians believe the virus will continue to circulate through migratory birds.