Bird Flu Center

Wednesday saw the confirmation that Hungary is the first EU country to report an outbreak of bird flu this year. The dead geese that had been found in Csongrad County earlier this week were confirmed to be carrying the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. All of the remaining flock of approximately 3,000 birds were culled by Hungarian authorities. The country’s response to the situation was characterized as “very satisfying” by a spokesperson for the European Commission. A buffer zone of 3 km was also set up around the area, as well as a surveillance area 10 km wide. Serbia has already announced that poultry imports from Hungary have been banned.

A demonstration attended by some 100 Hungarian poultry farmers took place in front of the Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday, demanding more compensation for the losses inflicted by the bird flu containing measures. A petition was addressed to Jozsef Graf, the Agriculture Minister, asking that a government commissioner is authorized to prepare a comprehensive a ssessment of the effects of the bird flu epidemic hitting Hungary’s poultry industry. Measures to resuscitate the ailing industry were also demanded. Around half a million birds have been culled on farms in the south of the country, where the deadly H5N1 virus was first discovered in June. Culling the birds is the recommended protective action used by most countries to stop the spread of the virus. Estimates given my the farmers say that the industry has suffered losses of severs tens of billions of forints so far. Compensation offered by Hungarian authorities and the European Union only reach 2.5 billion forints.

Police officers in Hungary are being asked to step up and be subjected to trials for the country’s own human bird flu vaccine. The Interior Ministry is seeking 240 police, men and women, to volunteer for a trial to last four months. Local newspaper Nepszabagdsag says it is not certain how popular this request will be or how many officers will need to temporarily quit their work for this. Hungary needs a total of 500 volunteers for this project, including children and elderly, after the private company Omninvest announced it is about to produce the world’s first human vaccine against the H5N1 virus, late last year. World Health Organization officials say they have not yet seen clear proof of the effectiveness of the vaccine.