Dutch ban poultry transport after finding dangerous bird flu strain

[Buster's Uncle]

Dutch ban poultry transport after finding dangerous bird flu strain
Reuters
By Thomas Escritt  3 hours ago



AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities on Sunday banned the transport of poultry throughout the Netherlands after finding a strain of bird flu that can jump the species barrier to humans at a farm in the middle of the country.

"This highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza is very dangerous for bird life," the government said in a statement. "The disease can be transmitted from animals to humans."

The disease was first identified at a battery poultry farm with 150,000 hens in the village of Hekendorp late on Saturday. Authorities are currently destroying the birds.

The variant, which has not been named, is dangerous for all birds and fatal for chickens.

Earlier outbreaks of bird flu in Europe and Asia have been highly contagious and have infected humans, prompting fears that bird flu outbreaks could spark a major epidemic.

Authorities on Sunday morning imposed a 72-hour ban on transporting all poultry products, including birds, eggs, dung and used straw to and from poultry farms throughout the country. They also imposed a countrywide ban on all kinds of hunting.

The ban will remain in force for 30 days for the 16 poultry farms within a 10 kilometer radius of the site of the outbreak, and all of them will be subject to enhanced security measures for visitors and regularly checked for signs of bird flu.

Some 10,000 chickens were destroyed in March after bird flu was found at a farm in the eastern Dutch province of Gelderland.

Earlier this month, Germany detected cases of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu strain which has hit Asia but has never been reported in Europe. In September, Russia reported the first cases of H5N1, another dangerous strain, in nearly two years.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; editing by Keiron Henderson)


http://news.yahoo.com/poultry-destroyed-bird-flu-found-dutch-farm-105047667.html

[Geo]

Oh joy.
Perhaps we'll get less work at work next week then.
Part of our tasks is to distribute packaged poultry to the shops.

[Buster's Uncle]

 

It's not like it was safe to eat them chickens undercooked before.  Chickens is nasty critters and it's not even safe to touch the raw meat.

[Buster's Uncle]

Netherlands bans poultry transport after discovering bird flu
AFP  3 hours ago



About 150,000 chickens at the farm in Hekendorp, Holland, are to be destroyed by Dutch health authorities after discovering a strain of bird flu (AFP Photo/Fred Tanneau)



The Hague (AFP) - Dutch officials on Sunday banned the transport of poultry in the Netherlands after the discovery of a highly infectious strain of bird flu that could jump to humans.

The "highly pathogenic" form of avian influenza discovered at a farm in the centre of the country is very dangerous to birds, and "contamination can occur from animals to humans," the Dutch government said in a statement.

About 150,000 chickens at the farm in Hekendorp are to be destroyed by Dutch health authorities, which for the moment have not identified the exact strain of flu.

Avian influenza is fatal for chickens, and poses a health threat to humans, who can become sickened by handling infected poultry.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 400 people, mainly in Southeast Asia, since first appearing in 2003. Another strain of bird flu, H7N9, has claimed more than 170 lives since emerging in 2013.

The Dutch transport ban is to last a maximum of 72 hours and includes moving poultry, eggs and bird manure.

However, in a 10-kilometre (six mile) ring around the affected farm, the ban could last up to 30 days.

The authorities were to perform testing at 16 other farms in the area and new restrictions were being set up for visitors.

Hunting has also been banned for now across the country.

According to Dutch media, the H7N7 strain of avian flu severely hit the Netherlands in 2003 with health authorities destroying some 30 million birds in an effort to quash an outbreak.


http://news.yahoo.com/netherlands-bans-poultry-transport-discovering-bird-flu-191435458.html

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Eh.  I'd keep the chickens and take out the Dutch.

[Buster's Uncle]

Authorities say Dutch bird flu is H5N8 strain found in Germany
Reuters  9 hours ago



AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities said on Sunday the bird flu identified at a poultry farm in the country was the highly contagious H5N8 strain first detected in Europe less than two weeks ago.

The strain, which was found at a farm in northeastern Germany on Nov. 4, hit Asia severely, where it led to massive culling of animals in the countries affected.

Though the strain has never been detected in humans, a spokesman for the Dutch government said the variant was lethal to birds and could infect humans who came into very close contact with them.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Mark Potter)


http://news.yahoo.com/authorities-dutch-bird-flu-h5n8-strain-found-germany-153140309.html

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I'm still siding with the chickens...