First case of H5N8 bird flu found within Danish poultry

The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) announced on Monday that the first case of bird flu in a poultry farm had been found after the disease was first detected among wild birds no more than two weeks ago.

The DVFA said a duck herd of approximately 30 in northern Zealand of Denmark had been hit by the avian influenza H5N8, with a third of the herd already dead.

The tests showed that the ducks were infected with the same type of bird flu found in wild birds in several places in the country, according to the DVFA.

All birds in the farm including chickens, turkeys and geese have since be destroyed.

Stig Mellergaard, deputy chief of the DVFA, said the findings could have major implications for the Danish exports of poultry meat.

He noted that several countries outside the European Union will automatically shut off the import of Danish poultry when bird flu is detected in a tame herd.

"It can be a hard blow for the industry," Joergen Nyberg Larsen, sector chief of Danish Poultry, was quoted by the news agency Ritzau as saying, adding that the loss of the industry will depend on how the situation develops.

On Nov. 10, two cases of bird flu were found in tufted ducks in Zealand and the disease has since spread to other places of the country, but only with wild birds.

The DVFA ordered on Nov. 14 that farmers in the country must lock their chickens and other captive birds behind the fence or under the roof to prevent bird flu from spreading. Endit