Hungary poultry bird flu outbreak was H5N1 -report

BUDAPEST, Jun 14 (Reuters) The outbreak of avian influenza among Hungarian geese last week was certainly the deadly H5N1 type, the farm minister was quoted as saying, but he added that the UK lab testing the samples had not confirmed it as yet.

Hungarian officials said last week they suspected the H5N1 strain had infected the geese in the southeast of Hungary because that type had infected wild birds in Hungary and poultry elsewhere in the region, with Romania worst hit.

''It can be taken as certain that the H5N1 type of bird flu infected the poultry stock in Bacs-Kiskun county,'' Agriculture Minister Jozsef Graf was quoted as saying by business daily Vilaggazdasag.

He said the laboratory results from the UK would arrive in Budapest later today or tomorrow.

Hungary has slaughtered over 300,000 poultry, mainly ducks and geese in the affected area, and it may cull up to half a million in total, the ministry said earlier this week.

Graf said in another interview on public television today that Hungary's farmers would be unable to keep their ducks and geese indoors to isolate them from wild birds due to outdated technology.

''The technology they are using is totally obsolete, it is basically a foil tent, and just a few planks stop the birds from going out into the open,'' Graf said. ''We must change the technology.'' Graf said the outbreak in the country's most important water fowl keeping area would hit output and exports, but duck keepers said there would be no large impact in the longer run.

''These lost stocks will not cause a tragedy in supply,'' said Istvan Kiss, head of the Hungarian Duck Association, who says his farms account for almost half of the nation's duck production.

Farmers receive compensation for the emergency culling of birds, but not for healthy birds they are forced to keep for longer than optimal while authorities carry out checks, and this results in the biggest losses for farmers, Kiss said.

''What causes problems at the moment is the indirect damage,'' Kiss told Reuters.

Graf said the European Union may soon change its policy and allow compensation for late culling.

REUTERS SRS HT1408