H5N1 bird flu confirmed in Hungary - EU

BRUSSELS, Jan 24 (Reuters) The first outbreak of bird flu in the European Union this year was confirmed today after the EU Commission said the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain had been found in dead geese in Hungary.

''The European Commission has been informed by the Hungarian authorities today of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Csongrad County, southeast Hungary,'' the EU executive said in a statement.

Tests were carried out for bird flu after an abnormally high mortality rate was reported in a flock of over 3,000 geese. All of the remaining flock were culled, the Commission said.

A spokesman for the Commission said Brussels was ''very satisfied'' with Hungary's response and there was ''no immediate threat'' to Hungarian poultry or poultry exports.

''A protection zone of 3 kilometres and a surveillance zone of 10 kilometres is in place,'' he said.

''Our experts will meet on Friday with ministers set to discuss it on Monday, but unless there is an escalation we are happy that these measures will suffice.'' It was the first finding of the disease in the 27-member bloc this year, but there have been fresh outbreaks of bird flu across Asia since the start of 2007.

Five people have died of the H5N1 virus in Indonesia since January 1, while new cases in poultry have been reported in Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Since 2003, outbreaks of bird flu have been confirmed in around 50 countries, killing 163 people according to World Health Organisation figures.

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