- Title: HEALTH-BIRD FLU/DUTCH Dutch poultry industry hit by new bird flu outbreak
- Date: 1st December 2014
- Summary: ZOETERWOUDE, THE NETHERLANDS (DECEMBER 1, 2014) (REUTERS) POULTRY AND COW FARM WHERE NEW CASE OF BIRD FLU HAS BEEN DISCOVERED, POLICE BARRIER SIGN WITH NAME OF THE FARM "DIE-BARLE FARMS" BEHIND POLICE BARRIER SIGN WITH NAME OF FARM READING (Dutch): "DIE BARLE, POULTRY" VARIOUS OF POULTRY BARN WITH POLICE TAPE IN FRONT EMERGENCY VEHICLE PARKED IN FRONT OF THE POULTRY FARM / BOX DEPICTING GAS MASK ON SEAT OF THE VAN FARM BEHIND POLICE BARRIERS
- Embargoed: 16th December 2014 12:00
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- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5FHT1ND90X8175GH5AI4746KV
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- Story Text: A fourth poultry farm in the Netherlands has been hit by the highly contagious H5N8 strain of bird flu, officials said on Monday (December 1), in a fresh blow for the Dutch agricultural export sector.
The outbreak was detected on Sunday, but only on Monday research showed that the new infection is the H5N8 strain of the illness, which has also been found on farms in Germany and Britain in recent weeks.
The H5N8 strain has never been detected in humans, but it led to the destruction of millions of farm birds in Asia, mainly South Korea, after an outbreak earlier this year.
The latest infestation was found at a poultry farm in the western municipality of Zoeterwoude, not far from the sites of previous outbreaks. The farm's 28,000 laying hens were ordered destroyed. A farm with 50,000 chicks situated within one kilometre from the infected farm will also be culled as part of preventive measures, officials said on Monday.
Officials and experts have previously warned that the density of farms in the country makes it easier for infections to hop from one farm to the next.
A ban was imposed on transporting poultry products within a 10 km radius and officials ordered that the four other poultry farms within the area be inspected for bird flu.
Officials also said that a separate inspection of all the duck farms in the country had found no H5 variety bird flu.
Under measures imposed last week to contain the spread of bird flu in the EU's leading exporter of poultry meat, export remains possible, but many non-EU countries have banned the import of Dutch poultry meat as a result of the outbreaks.
Three-day national transportation bans imposed after previous outbreaks had cost the industry up to 100 million euros, industry groups said.
About 2,000 Dutch businesses, with more than 100 million chickens, export more than six billion eggs a year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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