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ARCHIVED - First bird flu cases discovered in Spain
The deadly virus has been sweeping across Europe for months
The highly contagious H5N1 strain of avian flu is already rampant in northern and central Europe and the Ministry of Agriculture has confirmed that the devastating disease has now hit Spain. The influenza virus was detected in four swans and a stork that were found dead in the Segre river in Lleida, Catalonia.
For now, the National Avian Influenza Surveillance Programme in Spain has decreed that the outbreak should not lead to commercial restrictions on the movement of live birds or their products, but it has increased its surveillance of wild birds within a three kilometre radius of the site, in addition to implementing additional controls on the poultry farms within ten kilometres of the river.
The H5N1 subtype is the predominant strain in the current wave sweeping across Europe. Between August 1 and December 27 of last year, a total of 1,199 bird flu outbreaks were reported in 27 countries and Spain is considered particularly vulnerable given the number of cases reported in neighbouring France and Portugal.
As a result, the Ministry of Agriculture has implemented a series of control measures including the prohibition of certain wild birds as lures, banning the raising of ducks and geese with other species of poultry as well as the raising of birds in the open air. In addition, water sources that can be accessed by wild birds cannot be used by poultry farmers unless it is pre-treated for potential avian influenza viruses.
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