After a month, bird flu was confirmed again in the Czech Republic. In this year’s 40th outbreak in Rohozna, near Jihlava in the Vysočina region, there are 5000 poultry, mainly geese, and veterinarians are culling them, Petr Vorlíček, a spokesman for the State Veterinary Administration (SVS), said on Thursday.
According to Vorlíček, low pathogenic influenza of the H5N1 subtype can potentially be transmitted to humans. A month ago, a highly pathogenic type of the disease was reported in Trhové Dušníky in the Příbram region. Low pathogenic influenza was last detected in the Czech Republic in 2010 inbreeding and wild birds in 2012.
“The SVS will order emergency veterinary measures, and all poultry on the breeding farm will be culled. A two-kilometer protection zone will be defined around the outbreak. Within this zone, emergency veterinary measures will be declared to ban the movement of poultry and the holding of mass events such as fairs or bird shows, which pose a high risk of spreading poultry diseases, “the spokesman said.
Veterinarians warned of another outbreak of the disease a month ago. “The bird flu virus is still present in the wild bird population to some extent, although the infectious pressure is low compared to the cold winter and spring seasons,” Petr Majer, on behalf of the SVS, had stated earlier in the year.
“The flu has not been seen in the Czech Republic in the autumn in recent years. “It is therefore still necessary to observe the rules of hygienic safety in farms, especially to prevent contact between poultry and wild birds,” Majer commented on the latest news. Around a quarter of a million birds have already been culled in the Czech Republic this year, with the disease hitting Perena’s duck farms hard. According to the Czech Chamber of Agriculture, this could mean shortages in the duck market. Chicken meat and eggs are not yet affected.