Several cases of highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu have been reported in Poland since last week, causing the death of at least 100 000 fowls.
Polish veterinary authorities said on Thursday that the earliest case of bird flu was found on December 31, 2019 at a poultry farm in Lublin province in the eastern part of the country. It caused the death of at least 25 000 fowls. The local government killed about 60 000 fowls to prevent a possible epidemic spreading.
On Friday a farm in west Poland also reported a case of bird flu outbreak, which led to a government order of eliminating 65 000 hens on the farm.
As the largest poultry producer in Europe, Poland has not seen bird flu outbreak since 2017.
Experts warned that as one of Poland’s most important poultry farming regions, Lublin province is prone to a larger-scale epidemic outbreak since the poultry farms in the epidemic region are closely located to each other.
