Dutch check farms after ‘contagious’ bird flu outbreak

Avian influenza -- or bird flu -- often proves fatal for birds and poses a health threat to humans, who can become ill through close contact with infected poultryDutch officials were on Monday checking poultry farms for a highly infectious strain of bird flu following an outbreak in a central village of the virus which could infect humans. Public health authorities on Sunday banned the transport of poultry nationwide after the discovery in the village of Hekendorp of a "highly pathogenic" form of avian influenza that is very dangerous to birds and can contaminate humans. British authorities have also reported a bird flu outbreak at a duck breeding farm in northern England but have not specified whether it is the same strain as in the Netherlands. The destruction of around 150,000 hens at the egg farm in Hekendorp, near Utrecht, should be completed on Monday, said Lex Denden of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).

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Bird flu on British farm may be linked to Dutch, German cases

Ducks in cages are seen at a duck farm in NaffertonBy Costas Pitas LONDON (Reuters) – Bird flu found on a duck farm in northern England might be linked to a highly contagious strain of the disease found this weekend at a poultry farm in the central Netherlands, as well as a case early this month in Germany. The head of the World Animal Health Organization told Reuters on Monday that the outbreaks could be linked as the virus is most often transmitted through wild birds. British authorities said the strain was serious for poultry but only a minimal danger to humans and was not the deadly H5N1. …

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German, Dutch, UK bird flu outbreaks could be linked: OIE chief

By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) – Outbreaks of bird flu detected in the past two weeks in Germany, the Netherlands and Britain could be linked and may have been spread by migrating wild birds, the head of the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) said on Monday. All three countries have reported cases of highly pathogenic bird flu which pose a risk to birds but not human health. The Netherlands detected the outbreak over the weekend and Germany earlier this month. …
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Bird flu not found in farms near outbreak site, say Dutch officials

A logo is seen at the entrance of a poultry farm, where a highly contagious strain of bird flu was found by Dutch authorities, in HekendorpBy Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A highly contagious form of bird flu has not spread to two farms close to an outbreak site in central Netherlands, Dutch authorities said on Monday, as health safety officials continued to cull 150,000 birds at the infected egg producing farm. The discovery at the weekend near the village of Hekendorp, in the central Netherlands, triggered a three-day ban on shipments of all poultry products out of the country – the world's largest egg exporter – and a 10-km exclusion radius was set up around the infected farm, to be sealed for 30 days. …

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Americans suspected of trying to ship baby body parts flee Thailand: police

Policemen show pictures of body parts found in parcels as they address reporters in BangkokBANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai police said on Monday two Americans suspected of trying to send infant and adult body parts in parcels to the United States had fled the country. A baby's head, a baby's foot sliced into three parts, a heart and a "sheet of skin" with tattoo markings were found in parcels on Saturday after staff at a shipping office in Bangkok scanned the packages, police said. The parts were stored in plastic containers filled with formaldehyde and the packages were destined for an address in Las Vegas. "X-rays showed there were contents similar to human body parts. …

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