Czechs report bird flu in poultry at second farm
By Fredrik Dahl
The Star, 28 June 2007

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Agriculture Ministry reported a second outbreak of bird flu at a farm on Wednesday, about a week after tests confirmed the country's first case of a deadly form of the virus in poultry. 

The Farm Ministry said the second farm was inside the surveillance zone just 4 km from a turkey farm where the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu was found last week. 

All 28,000 birds at the Norin farm, about 150 km east of capital Prague, as well as poultry bred by the local smallholders would be culled, the ministry said. 

"Extraordinary veterinary measures will be extended immediately to prevent a further spread of the infection," said Farm Minister Petr Gandalovic. 

Veterinary officials said tests were expected to confirm by Friday if the poultry at the second farm also contained the H5N1 avian flu virus that can be deadly to humans. 

"Given that the second farm is just 4 km from the first one, it is highly likely that the outbreak of H5N1 would be confirmed there as well," said veterinary authority spokesman Josef Duben. 

Russia and Ukraine have banned poultry imports from the Czech Republic after the confirmation of the highly infectious H5N1 strain of bird flu in the country. 

Neighboring Germany has identified nine cases of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu in wild birds. 

Last year, some 13 European Union member states had confirmed cases of bird flu -- Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Britain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, France and Hungary. 

Bird flu has been spreading across Southeast Asia, killing two people in Vietnam this month, the first deaths there since 2005. 

Globally, the H5N1 virus has killed nearly 200 people out of over 300 known cases, according to the World Health Organization. None of the victims were from Europe.