Seed Daily via AFP: Dutch officials on Sunday banned the transport of poultry in the Netherlands after the discovery of a highly infectious strain of bird flu which could jump to humans.The "highly pathogenic" form of avian influenza discovered at a farm in the centre of the country is very dangerous to birds and "contamination can occur from animals to humans," the Dutch government said in a statement. About 150,000 chickens at the farm in Hekendorp are to be destroyed by Dutch health authorities, which for the moment have not identified the exact strain of flu.
Avian influenza is fatal for chickens, and poses a health threat to humans, who can become sickened by handling infected poultry. The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 40
0 people, mainly in Southeast Asia, since first appearing in 2003. Another strain of bird flu, H7N9, has claimed more than 170 lives since emerging in 2013.
The Dutch transport ban is to last a maximum of 72 hours and includes moving poultry, eggs and bird manure....
A poultry farm in Hungary, shot by Civertan, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 3.0 license
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