Group to Perform Risk Bird Flu Vaccination Analysis for Poultry
A working group composed of vets and food-processing industry representatives must make a risk analysis of poultry vaccination against bird flu by next week, the head of the group Milan Pogacnik of the Veterinary Faculty said on Monday.
Every country must draft such a document before opting to go ahead with a vaccination programme, said Pogacnik, the dean of the faculty. He added that the group, set up by the Veterinary Administration (VURS), will hold its first meeting on Tuesday.
Moreover, several sources have said that another group would meet this week to determine the actual damage caused by bird flu to Slovenian breeders and the food-processing industry.
The group, which will work under the auspices of the Agriculture and Food Ministry, will also include Roman Glaser, the head of Slovenia's largest poultry producer, Perutnina Ptuj.
Glaser confirmed his participation during last week's visit by Agriculture Minister Marija Lukacic to his company.
Veterinary authorities confirmed the second case of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in Slovenia on Friday, 24 February.
The deadly virus was found in a grey heron, found near the village of Spodnji Duplek (NE), just a few kilometres down the river Drava from the country's first confirmed H5N1 case - that of a swan found near the city of Maribor.
Twelve cases of the H5 virus have been confirmed in Slovenia so far, all of them in wild birds.
The authorities have so far established four quarantine and prevention zones: in the northeast around Maribor, Spodnji Duplek and Starse, and in the north around the village of Muta.
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