site.btaBird Flu Outbreak Detected in Duck Farms in South Central Bulgaria

A bird flu outbreak has been detected in two mulard duck farms in the town of Brezovo (South Central Bulgaria). The farms raise some 8,750 ducks, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) said.

A three-kilometre protection zone, which includes Brezovo, has been established around the affected sites, together with a 10-kilometre surveillance zone encompassing Plovdiv region, Brezovo Municipality and the villages of Choba, Turkmen, General Nikolaevo, Otets Kirilovo, Drangovo, Zlatosel and Zelenkovo, Stara Zagora region, Bratya Daskalovi region and the villages of Pravoslav, Kolyu Marinovo and Veren.

Measures have been put in place to control the outbreak. Actions will be taken to cull the sick and contact birds on the premises.

An epizootic survey and monitoring of the movements of poultry and other birds, eggs, products, and animal by-products derived therefrom, poultry feed, and of the means of transport related to the technological process in the facilities will be carried out.

Poultry meat and products coming from a farm where an outbreak of bird flu has been detected do not pose a risk to human health.

Earlier in the day, BFSA Executive Director Svetlozar Patarinski told journalists that inspections are being carried out in order to contain the disease at an earlier stage.