by Playfuls Staff |
22nd February 2006
EU is ready to give permission to The Netherlands and France to start vaccinating poultry flocks against bird flu. The French plan foresees the vaccination of ducks and geese in three risk areas – including Landes, a region famous for producing and exporting fois gras - starting on April 1. The French this week bought 30 million doses of a bird flu [more] vaccine for poultry and want 900,000 birds vaccinated.
The Netherlands wants to give poultry farmers across the country the choice of either locking up their birds or medicating free-range laying hens and privately held poultry.
The vaccination issue has raised some objections from Germany, Austria, Denmark and Portugal, because its costs and the potential lack of effectiveness. And EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou has questioned the effectiveness of vaccinations.
The Commission said that other EU countries wishing to begin vaccination programmes will have to make separate applications for EU-level approval.
In the meantime, test results confirmed Tuesday that three dead swans found in Hungary were infected with deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. European Union laboratory results confirmed H5N1 in three dead swans in Hungary, government spokesman Andras Batiz said in a statement. Hungary is awaiting results for four other swans found some 100 miles south of Budapest.
Slovakia may report its first outbreak after preliminary tests on two wild birds showed they had the virus. Bosnia-Herzegovina reported an H5 variety of flu virus yesterday.
The countries reporting their first outbreaks this month were Iraq, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt and France, the WHO said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. Except Iraq, where two people have died of bird flu, none of the nations newly reporting avian flu listed cases in humans, the WHO said, but Malaysia said seven people living near an area with bird flu were being treated in hospital, while India waited to see if a group of 12 in quarantine were the country's first human victims of the virus.
