First Case of Avian Influenza in Slovenia; Massive Poultry Culling in Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, veterinarians had to cull 80,000 infected chickens on a poultry farm 45 kilometers north of Prague on Tuesday. Since late last week, more than one hundred thousand chickens have died on the Czech farm, which still held 188,000 chickens before Christmas.

The culling of poultry infected with avian influenza is still ongoing. Veterinarians also had to destroy more than one million eggs intended for export, according to the spokesperson. To date, 48 cases of avian influenza have been registered in the Czech Republic, a record within a calendar year.

On Tuesday, Slovenian authorities confirmed the first infection on a small farm in the north of the country. This was the first H5N1 virus infection in Slovenia.

Due to above-average bird mortality, testing was carried out on a farm near Slovenska Bistrica, about 100 kilometers northeast of Ljubljana. Appropriate measures have been taken on and around the infected farm, and breeders have been asked to isolate their animals.

Recently, outbreaks of avian influenza have also been reported in the southwest of France, and in early December the UK announced that half a million birds had to be culled due to the largest avian influenza epidemic ever recorded.

In the past months, Belgium and the Netherlands have also imposed quarantine measures following the detection of several avian influenza hotspots.