Concerned about the return of bird flu, Sweden destroyed 200,000 chickens

The Swedish Department of Agriculture has decided to kill 200,000 chickens on a farm where bird flu is found, in a situation where the virus is showing signs of revival in Europe.

Traces of the H ₅ N ₈ virus were found at Aniagra farms in Morarp, southwestern Sweden. The discovery came after a number of young ducks on a small farm in neighboring Denmark, in the Copenhagen region, were infected with bird flu.

According to the Swedish Ministry of Agriculture, after lowering orders for 37,000 birds,: "All 200,000 farm hens will be destroyed to prevent the spread of the virus."

Veterinary staff are taking samples from a goose suspected of being infected with bird flu.

Scientist Karin Ahl, who works for the government, said the operation would "take time because it is a large farm, and extensive disinfection should be done in every way".

Aniagra director Anders Lindberg told local media: "This is of course a heavy loss but it is imperative to do so in this critical moment, we cannot allow the virus to spread further."

The Department of Agriculture stresses that there is no danger from eating eggs from farms - or Swedish poultry products in general - because the H ₅ N ₈ virus has never been transmitted from poultry to humans.

Virus H ₅ N ₈ has been detected in wild birds and birds in 10 European countries, according to the World Health Organization, are: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and Russia. Last week the Netherlands shut down zoos and duck hunting was banned to strengthen measures to prevent bird flu in the country, including the extermination of dozens of poultry and more than a thousand species. wild bird.