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4 dangerous animal infections hit Bulgaria in 2015: official

Xinhua, October 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

In 2015, Bulgaria was hit by four very dangerous animal infections that spread into humans, including avian influenza, West Nile fever, anthrax and brucellosis, an official said here on Thursday.

Prof. Boyko Likov, Director of the Risk Assessment Center at the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency said the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 affected pelicans and poultry in January in the districts of Burgas and Silistra in southeastern and northeastern Bulgaria respectively.

In June this year, West Nile fever was detected in a seven-year-old child in Sofia, and in 25 horses and five hens in six districts in northern Bulgaria, Likov said while presenting a report at the 8th Scientific conference of the Bulgarian Focal Point of the European Food Safety Authority.

Later on, anthrax in animals and humans in Varna, Dobrich and Targovishte districts in northeastern Bulgaria caused the death of two people after slaughtering sick cow and sheep in July and September respectively, Likov said.

The last death from anthrax before these two was 18 years ago, in 1997, at slaughtering of a sick sheep, Likov said.

"Perhaps the most unpleasant surprise" came in August, when brucellosis in sheep and goats has been found in one town and five villages in Kyustendil district in southwest Bulgaria, and in a village in Pleven district in central north Bulgaria, leading to the infection of 40 people, Likov said.

"The infection probably came from Greece or Macedonia," he said.

The previous widespread of brucellosis happened in 2005-2008, infecting 120 people in 12 districts, Likov said. "Then, the source of infection were goats from Greece, and we found the negative epizootic aspects of the free movement of goods between the member states of the European Union," Likov said.

In 2014, Bluetongue disease was the most serious epizootic problem in Bulgaria, spreading in 2,322 settlements in all regions of the country, and about 37,000 sheep and 300 cattle died, Likov said. "In 2015, a mass vaccination was carried out, and there were no new cases," he said. Endit