bird flu

Bird flu detected in Baranya County, Hungary

The H5N1 avian influenza subtype has been identified at a turkey farm in Baranya County, in the southwest of the country, food safety authority Nébih said on Tuesday.

Bird flu detected at Hungarian farm

Around 5,500 turkeys are being destroyed at the farm in Szárász. Protection and surveillance zones have been established around the farm.

Bird flu outbreaks have been identified in several counties in Hungary.

Read also:

Featured image: depositphotos.com

Bird flu detected at more farms in Hungary

bird flu

The H5N1 avian influenza subtype has been identified at duck farms in Fejér County, in the west, and Hajdu-Bihar County, in the east of the country, food safety authority Nebih said on Tuesday.

First detection of avian influenza

The H5N1 avian influenza subtype has been identified at a duck farm in Békés County, in the southeast of the country, food safety authority Nébih said on October 2, 2024.

Around 25,000 ducks are being destroyed in Fuzesgyarmat. Protection and surveillance zones have been established around the farm.

Avian influenza was identified in the wild bird population days earlier.

Csongrád-Csanád County

On Monday, food safety authority Nebih said that the H5N1 avian influenza subtype has been identified at a duck farm in Csongrád-Csanád County, in the south of the country.

The farm in Pusztaszer has destroyed around 9,500 ducks. Protection and surveillance zones have been established around the farm.

Fejér and Hajdú-Buhar County

Over 40,000 ducks have been destroyed at the farms in Mezőfalva and Hajdúnánás, Nébih said today.

Protection and surveillance zones have been established around the farms.

Why is bird flu dangerous?

Bird flu, or avian influenza, is dangerous primarily because of its potential to cause severe illness in birds and humans. Here are the main reasons why it is considered so dangerous:

1. High Mortality Rate in Birds:
Bird flu viruses can spread quickly among wild birds and poultry, leading to devastating outbreaks that kill large numbers of birds. This has significant economic consequences for the poultry industry.

2. Potential to Infect Humans:
Some strains of bird flu, particularly H5N1 and H7N9, can jump from birds to humans. While human-to-human transmission is rare, when it occurs, the infection can be severe and often deadly. The mortality rate in infected humans can be as high as 60%, which is much higher than typical seasonal flu.

3. Severe Illness in Humans:
When humans contract bird flu, it often leads to severe respiratory illness, pneumonia, and complications such as multi-organ failure. The symptoms are more severe than typical flu cases, leading to hospitalization and high death rates.

4. Risk of Mutations:
The virus has a high potential for mutation. If bird flu were to mutate into a form that spreads easily between humans, it could trigger a global pandemic. The fear is that it could combine with human flu viruses, potentially creating a highly contagious and deadly strain.

5. Limited Immunity:
Since bird flu is not commonly transmitted between humans, most people have no immunity to it. This lack of immunity increases the danger of widespread infection if a highly transmissible form emerges.

6. Lack of Vaccines:
While vaccines for bird flu exist, they are not widely available for the general public, and they may not be effective against all strains. This means there would be limited defenses against a large-scale outbreak.

These factors together make bird flu a serious global health concern, especially because virus evolution is unpredictable.

The farmer concerned is entitled to compensation from the State for the measures taken to control avian influenza.

read also:

Bear crosses the Danube from Slovakia, now feared in Hungary

Beaver bite in Budapest: a beaver attacked a woman in the Danube

Featured picture: depositphotos.com

Devastating disease disappeared from Hungary

doctor and patient

Food safety authority Nébih has lifted all restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of bird flu in Hungary, the authority said on Tuesday.

The last two counties under restrictions, Bács-Kiskun and Csongrád-Csanád, in southern Hungary, have not reported cases in poultry since April, Nébih said. As a result, transportation of poultry from Hungary to domestic and EU destinations is now uninterrupted, the statement said. Some third country restrictions will have to be lifted by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), the statement noted. Nébih warned farmers to continue to adhere to regulations to prevent bringing the virus to the country again.

Bird flu detected again in Hungary

Bird-flu-poultry

Bird flu has been identified at a goose farm in Békés County, in southern Hungary, food safety authority Nébih said on Wednesday.

Protection and surveillance zones were established after the H5N1 virus was detected at the farm with 3,080 geese, Nebih said. The animals were being destroyed to prevent further spread of the virus, it said. Restrictions and mandatory examinations are in place in Bács-Kiskun and Csongrád-Csanád counties, and poultry must be tested before transport nationwide, Nébih noted.

Bird-flu-poultry
Read alsoHungary cleared of bird flu, says health authority

Dangerous disease detected again in Hungary

Bird-flu-poultry

Bird flu has been identified at two goose farms in Bács-Kiskun County, in southern Hungary, food safety authority Nebih said on Friday.

Protection and surveillance zones were established after the virus subtype H5N1 was detected at the farms, Nébih said, adding that more than 1,200 geese were being destroyed. An order for poultry to be kept indoors is in effect in Hungary’s seven high-risk counties.

Bird-flu-poultry
Read alsoHungary cleared of bird flu, says health authority

Hungary cleared of bird flu, says health authority

Bird-flu-poultry

Hungary is again free of bird flu, and poultry farms are no longer required to keep their flocks indoors, food safety authority Nébih said on Thursday.

The authority said on its website that the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has certified Hungary’s status as a bird flu-free country.

Chief veterinary officer Lajos Bognár has notified the authorities of Hungary’s partner countries that Hungary was declared bird flu-free on July 27, paving the way for import restrictions to be lifted, Nébih said.

The chief veterinary officer has withdrawn the order for poultry to be kept indoors, but preventive measures such as indoor feeding remain in affect across the country, the authority said.

Hungary’s food safety authority eases bird flu restrictions in three counties

bird flu

Hungary’s food safety authority (NÉBIH) has eased bird flu-related restrictions in Bács-Kiskun, Békés and Csongrád-Csanád counties in the south and northeast of the country, after no infections had been detected since early June.

Inspection of the areas hit by the infection will continue, with slaughtering only possible under strict regulation, NÉBIH said on its website on Monday.

Restrictions will be lifted completely as of July 3 if there is no recurrence, NEBIH said.

Restrictions in other farms in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg and Hajdu-Bihar in the east will remain in place at least until early July, NÉBIH said.

More bird flu detected in Hungary

Bird-flu-poultry
Bird flu has been detected at a duck farm in Csengerújfalu, near the Hungarian-Romanian border in north-eastern Hungary, where the culling of 37,000 poultry is under way, the food safety authority (Nébih) said on Wednesday.
 
Nébih was notified after the farm saw an increased death rate among the birds, and feed and water consumption dropped. The authority then drew a 3km “protection zone” and a 10km “supervision zone” around the farm. The Romanian animal health authority has been briefed about the case, it said.
 
In Hungary’s Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, some
 
40 localities are under various protective measures due to bird flu,
 
Nébih warned, calling on the farmers to adhere to the relevant regulations.
downtown market budapest-8-meat-butcher
Read alsoDrastic increase expected in the price of Hungarian poultry

One of Keszthely’s biggest tourist attractions to reopen after tragedy – PHOTO GALLERY

Festetics Kastély Castle Park

One of Keszthely’s most popular tourist attractions is the Bird Park in the Helikon Castle Museum. After being forced to close at the end of November 2021, the Bird Park is teasing a reopening.

bird park keszthely
source: https://www.helikonkastely.hu/kepekben/

The virus

As 24.hu reported at the end of last year, Bird Park staff noticed that more and more birds were dying unexpectedly. In all cases, the presence of the H5N1 subtype of the avian influenza virus was confirmed by the laboratory of the National Food Chain Safety Office (NÉBIH).

Because of the virus, the entire flock had to be culled.

It was a huge loss for both the staff of the Bird Park and the visitors. However, Gábor Rigó, the owner of the birds, was most shocked and devastated by the death of the birds. He was incredibly close to them, he even gave some of them names.

Tragedy

He told likebalaton.hu the following:

“My life’s work has collapsed. There were birds that I had had for more than ten years, I started raising them in my own yard in Kalocsa. In 2016, I came to Keszthely with 120 birds of 22 species, and in five years, I had more than 50 species with a population of 360 birds. I always bought new specimens from the breeding stock to make the park as colourful as possible and to be able to hand-feed as many species as possible. All birds had to be destroyed…”

Despite everything, the Bird Park is now teasing a reopening. They shared the good news through Helikon Castle Museum’s Facebook page, with a video of the place.

Reopening

The park and its surroundings have been completely decontaminated, and the 30-day official closure has expired. The park will reopen in March with 30 species of birds. As Gábor Rigó shared in the video, some species have already arrived in the Bird Park.

bird park keszthely
source: https://www.helikonkastely.hu/kepekben/

“We will open with the same species of birds that visitors have seen before. I can reintroduce species from the species list, I don’t need to apply for new permits,”

says Gábor Rigó.

For the March opening, he will be able to show 30 of the previous 52 species, but he will gradually fill the stock. They can start repopulating the stock, but the new specimens they bought can only be released from the closed tents after the quarantine period is over.

bird park keszthely
source: https://www.helikonkastely.hu/kepekben/

The peacocks, the pheasants, and the partridges have already arrived, and the bird residential area is full. The staff managed to buy mature birds, so we can expect to see reproduction this year.

If you like colours and birds and maybe even colourful birds, do not miss out on visiting the Bird Park in Keszthely once it opens in March.

Gallery

winter budapest tram
Read alsoTravel+Leisure: Budapest among the best places to visit in 2022

Drastic increase expected in the price of Hungarian poultry

downtown market budapest-8-meat-butcher

Presumably, the 20-25% cost increase in the livestock and animal products market will result in a 10-12% growth in consumer prices.

As the Hungarian news portal Magyar Mezőgazdaság reports, both the pandemic and the bird flu impacted the poultry sector last year. However, the chicken population has grown despite the troubles. This can be explained by the fact that chicken and eggs are consumed on a daily basis by Hungarian families. These products will be of key importance both in Europe and globally.

According to the agricultural expert, ensuring the feed needs of domestic animal husbandry and animal products is a matter of national security. Therefore more attention should be paid to physical stocks in the future. For the time being, the only solution for producers to survive is to incorporate these cost increases into the price of their products, for which retail chains and consumers must be prepared.

As a result of the nearly 30% cost increase in the livestock and animal products market, a 10-12% increase can be expected in consumer prices.

Just like the catering industry, the poultry sector was also impacted negatively by the closure of hospitality establishments (hotel, restaurant, cafe). There was a significant decrease in the consumption of meat, eggs and goose liver.

The recovery of the sector will depend on the level of control over the pandemic and bird flu, as well as the restart of the tourism and hospitality sector. 

Another significant problem is the lack of skilled workforce, for which the sector must be prepared in the long term. Currently, farms have two options: either adjust their production to the existing labour force or replace human labour. According to the expert, developing technology is the right way to build efficient and competitive companies and industries.

chickens
Read alsoCoronavirus – Hungarian agriculture minister asks urgent EC review of poultry import conditions

Bird flu restrictions lifted in Hungary

Hungary’s food safety authority (NÉBIH) on Tuesday lifted the last restrictions imposed to curb the spread of bird flu in the country.

The last case of bird flu was registered on February 2, the authority said on its website.

The measure also lifts restrictions on the commercial delivery of poultry within the country and the European Union, the authority said.

Under the regulations of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), Hungary will be considered free of bird flu only from May 23 this year if no further cases are detected, freeing the country to export to third countries that currently fully ban Hungarian poultry.

Farmers are still required to keep the animals in enclosures to prevent infections from migratory birds. Feeding and watering should also happen in closed places.

Feed and litter must be stored in closed places too, NÉBIH said.

Risk of human spread of H5N8 bird flu deemed low: WHO

The risk of human-to-human spread of the H5N8 strain of bird flu appears low after it was identified for the first time worldwide in farm workers in Russia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on 26 of February.

A separate influenza strain, H1N1, that emerged from pigs and spread rapidly worldwide among humans led the WHO to declare an influenza pandemic in 2009-2010. The outbreak turned out to be mild among humans.

Russia registered the first case of a strain of bird flu virus named influenza A(H5N8) being passed to humans from birds and has reported the matter to the WHO, Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor.

Seven people in Russia were found to be infected with H5N8, but all were asymptomatic following an outbreak on a poultry farm in the southern oblast (region) of Astrakhan, a WHO statement said. The death of 101,000 of the farm’s 900,000 egg-laying hens in December had sparked the investigation, it said.

“All close contacts of these cases were clinically monitored, and no one showed signs of clinical illness,” it said. “Based on currently available information, the risk of human-to-human transmission remains low.”

The WHO advised against any special traveller screening at points of entry or restrictions on travel and or trade with the Russian Federation, it added.

Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain were reported last year in poultry or wild birds in Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Russia, according to WHO.

The WHO statement said that developing zoonotic influenza candidate vaccine viruses for potential use in human vaccines remains an essential part of WHO strategy for influenza pandemic preparedness.

Read alsoBird flu restrictions lifted in Hungary

Bird flu hits 226 farms in Hungary

chicken

Cases of the H5N8 strain of the bird flu have been confirmed in 226 farms in Hungary’s southern Bács-Kiskun and Csongrád counties, leading to the culling of 3.5 million animals, the chief veterinary officer said on Monday.

In areas where farms stood too close to each other, 870,000 poultry had to be culled to thin the stock and stop the virus from spreading, Lajos Bognár said.

The farmers’ damage totals at several billion forints, he said.

Facilities operating in line with the relevant regulations are eligible for damages from the state, Bognar said, adding that many have been found to flout a January decree to keep the animals in closed facilities at all times.

Bognár noted that

bird flu was typically brought into the country by migratory birds, hence the ban on open-air poultry farming.

H5N8 first appeared in Asia in 2014, when it developed into a pandemic. It last appeared in Hungary in 2016-2017.

As we wrote in January, the H5N8 bird flu virus has been detected at a farm outside Ács, in Komárom-Esztergom county, details here.

Two new localities in Hungary affected by bird flu

 

Kecskemét, April 12 (MTI) – Two new localities in Bács-Kiskun county, in southern Hungary, have been affected by bird flu, and to prevent the spread of the virus a cull has been ordered, the food safety authority Nébih said on its website on Wednesday.

Two farms in Kiskunfélegyháza are affected by the measure, one rearing geese and the other ducks. The H5N8 virus has been identified in the livestock.

In February this year Hungary’s chief public health officer ordered poultry farms all over Hungary to keep their flocks indoors after an outbreak of bird flu in the country and several parts of Europe.

Nébih said the H5N8 virus had been identified in wild fowl in 11 counties and in Budapest, while an outbreak of the epidemic was reported from two further counties.

The measure aims to prevent contact between wild animals and poultry farms, the authority said.

Since the first outbreak of the epidemic, 3 million birds have been culled in Hungary, causing a combined 3.5 billion forints (over EUR 1bn) in direct damages to the economy, according to February data.

Bird flu restrictions on poultry farms could be lifted in March

Budapest, February 16 (MTI) – Poultry farms in Hungary have shown no sign of bird flu since the end of January, and if the virus does not resurface, restrictions on poultry farmers could be lifted in early March, the National Chamber of Agriculture quoted Hungary’s chief veterinarian as saying on Thursday.

Since the first outbreak of the H5N8 strain of the virus last November, bird flu has been detected at 231 poultry farms in a total of seven counties, Lajos Bognár was quoted as saying at a conference. Among them, 192 farms kept more than 500 birds each, he said. A total of 3.2 million birds have had to be culled, 80 percent of which were ducks and geese.

Earlier this month, Bognár ordered poultry farms all over Hungary to keep their flocks indoors to prevent their infection by wild birds. Bognar said the bird flu outbreak has caused about 3 billion forints (EUR 9.7m) in direct losses to Hungary’s economy.

He said at Thursday’s forum that Hungary was the only country in the European Union to offer 100 percent compensation to farmers whose flocks have had to be culled due to the epidemic.

In addition, the farm ministry will pay will pay out 1.5 billion forints to farmers in compensation for their losses.

He said Hungary was also in talks with competent EU authorities over other potential forms of compensation. However, due to nature of the EU’s decision-making process, it will likely be months until further decisions are made in the matter, he added.

Bognár said that in the coming days, the chief veterinarian authority will publish a resolution aimed at reducing the risks of bird-flu infection.

Photo: MTI

Goose, duck farmers to receive EUR 4.8m in compensation for bird flu damages

Budapest (MTI) – The ministry of agriculture will pay 1.5 billion forints (EUR 4.8m) to goose and duck farmers in compensation for their losses in connection with the bird flu epidemic in Hungary, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement said that so far a total 1.7 billion forints has been paid out to farmers for the same reason, and suggested that the government aimed at providing full compensation to farmers for bird flu damages.

On February 2, the chief public health officer ordered that poultry farms all over Hungary should keep their flocks indoors after an outbreak of bird flu in the country and several parts of Europe.

Since the first outbreak of the epidemic, 3 million birds have been culled in Hungary, causing a combined 3.5 billion forints (over EUR 1bn) in direct damages to the economy.

Photo: MTI

Price pressure on eggs due to bird flu

Budapest, January 10 (MTI) – Bird flu has taken a toll on egg producers both in terms of various restrictions imposed by the authorities and the culls of chickens, and this is putting pressure on prices in the market, the daily Magyar Idők said on Tuesday, citing the head of an egg producer association.

The association’s László Végh told the paper that bird flu was affecting breeders in the European Union and in Hungary, and territorial and transport restrictions were causing them difficulties. Further, the stock of chickens has been culled by 10 percent.

As it is there is usually a drop in the number of eggs on the market in January as breeders replace their stock, but there are normally ways to make up for the shortfall such as by accumulating stock in the period after Christmas. This year, however, demand has remained high.

Given that egg imports are also affected due to bird flu in other parts of Europe, a dearth of eggs could result in upward pressure on prices.

Bird flu costs over EUR 9.8m in Hungary

Budapest, January 9 (MTI) – Direct costs incurred in connection with the bird flu epidemic affecting several areas in Hungary have by now amounted to over 3 billion forints (EUR 9.8m), business daily Világgazdaság reported on Monday, citing information from the farm ministry.

According to the ministry, farmers whose poultry were culled to prevent further spread of the deadly virus have received 2.7 billion forints in compensation, and negotiations are under way to pay compensation to other farms affected by the epidemic.

Poultry producer Master Good chief László Bárány told the paper that the poultry sector had suffered damages of a total 6.5 billion forints including the indirect impacts. He compared the epidemic in the central parts of eastern Hungary to an “obliteration bombing” and insisted that the sector could not cope without government and European Union assistance.

Bird flu discovered in NE Hungary

chicken

Budapest, December 23 (MTI) – Avian influenza was identified in geese at a farm in Hajdú-Bihar County, in northeast Hungary, early in the week, Lajos Bognár, Hungary’s chief veterinarian, said on Friday, responding to a query by MTI.

More than 10,000 birds have been culled at the farm and a 3 kilometre protection zone and a 10 kilometre surveillance zone have been established around the site.

Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain of bird flu were earlier discovered in Bács-Kiskun, Bekes, Csongrád and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Counties, in southeast and central Hungary.