Second case of H5N8 bird flu found in Hungary in a
week, spreading around eastern Europe
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[January 15, 2020]
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A second outbreak of
bird flu has been found at a large duck farm in eastern Hungary, the
National Food Chain Safety Authority (NEBIH) said on Wednesday, two days
after the first such case in the country in years.
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 The flu has spread in recent days in Poland, Romania, Slovakia and
Hungary. It is a highly pathogenic strain of the virus that
reappeared in Poland in early January.
Hungary's NEBIH said the full duck stock at the farm, 115,000 birds,
was being culled on suspicion of the virus, after the destruction of
more than 50,000 turkeys earlier this week to contain the spread of
the infection.
It said the virus is probably spreading as wild birds migrate and
contaminate waterways used by farm birds.
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The authority said that this strand of the virus was similar to one
in an outbreak in 2016 in Hungary. It said poultry products in
Hungary were safe to consume.
Hungary will also restrict transport to contain the virus, the
authority said earlier this week, adding that the H5N8 strain had so
far caused no human infections in Europe.
(Reporting by Marton Dunai, editing by Louise Heavens)
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