More Bird Flu In Czech Republic
Written by Stuart Stevens | Thursday, 12 July 2007 | There are 0 comments
Nevertheless all of the birds at both of the farms will have to be slaughtered
The bird flu virus has been found at two farms in the Czech Republic that contained between them 71,000 birds. The information was released by the Czech State Veterinary Authority and they confirmed that the virus found was of the H5 variety but they were not one hundred percent sure whether it was of the dangerous and deadly H5N1 type. This brings the number of bird flu outbreaks at farms in the Czech Republic to four. The Czech Republic had their first case of avian H5N1 flu confirmed in June at a turkey farm based in the east part of the country.
In line with established procedure for the Czech Republic both of the farms had a 2 mile protective zone placed around them in which people must not go into unless they have been duly authorized and farmers in a much larger area, (and in fact all over the country) have been warned to be extra vigilant when dealing with poultry. Health officials will also be on standby to look out for any unusual behaviour in birds in a 6 mile radius around both the farms.
The Czech authorities said that they were pleased that they had located the virus during routine checks and before it had spread to all of the birds in both of these recently identified farms. In view of this they hope that the outbreak will be contained and will not go to other parts of the country. Nevertheless all of the birds at both of the farms will have to be slaughtered.
While the situation with regard to birds is serious in Europe at least there have been no human cases of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that is very often fatal. Almost 300 people have suffered from the deadly bird influenza virus in different areas of the world and almost 200 of them have succumbed to it. The bird flu virus is extremely dangerous and people who live in close proximity to birds would be advised to make sure that they have access to the bird flu drug Tamiflu which is especially effective if it is taken in first 48 hours of feeling flu symptoms.
