The outbreak comes after the Dutch government said on Sunday that it had found a highly contagious strain of bird flu at a chicken farm in the centre of the country.
All 150,000 birds at the farm in Hekendorp, 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Amsterdam, were being slaughtered and The Netherlands imposed a 72-hour ban on transportation of poultry products, including birds, eggs, dung and used straw to and from poultry farms across the country, which is the world's leading egg exporter.
The strain, H5N8, has never been detected in humans, but an outbreak in South Korea meant millions of farm birds had to be slaughtered to contain the outbreak. Cases have also been reported in China and Japan, although the strain was first reported in Europe, on a German farm, in early November.
The European Commission said it expected to adopt urgent interim protective measures on Monday to contain the outbreak, including a ban on selling poultry products from the affected areas to EU and third countries.
”It's a highly pathogenic strain for birds,“ said Dutch Economics Ministry spokesman Jan van Diepen. ”For people it's not that dangerous: you'd only get it if you were in very close contact with the birds.“
The farm at Hekendorp sold eggs rather than poultry, another spokesman said.
Some 10,000 chickens were destroyed in March after bird flu was found at a farm in the eastern Dutch province of Gelderland, but the country has not had cases of any of the highly contagious H5 or H7 strains of bird flu in the past 10 years, according to data from the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Earlier outbreaks in Europe and Asia have infected humans, prompting fears of a bird flu epidemic.
In September, Russia reported the first cases of H5N1, another dangerous strain, in nearly two years
The outbreak comes after the Dutch government said on Sunday that it had found a highly contagious strain of bird flu at a chicken farm in the centre of the country.
All 150,000 birds at the farm in Hekendorp, 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Amsterdam, were being slaughtered and The Netherlands imposed a 72-hour ban on transportation of poultry products, including birds, eggs, dung and used straw to and from poultry farms across the country, which is the world's leading egg exporter.
The strain, H5N8, has never been detected in humans, but an outbreak in South Korea meant millions of farm birds had to be slaughtered to contain the outbreak. Cases have also been reported in China and Japan, although the strain was first reported in Europe, on a German farm, in early November.
The European Commission said it expected to adopt urgent interim protective measures on Monday to contain the outbreak, including a ban on selling poultry products from the affected areas to EU and third countries.
”It's a highly pathogenic strain for birds,“ said Dutch Economics Ministry spokesman Jan van Diepen. ”For people it's not that dangerous: you'd only get it if you were in very close contact with the birds.“
The farm at Hekendorp sold eggs rather than poultry, another spokesman said.
Some 10,000 chickens were destroyed in March after bird flu was found at a farm in the eastern Dutch province of Gelderland, but the country has not had cases of any of the highly contagious H5 or H7 strains of bird flu in the past 10 years, according to data from the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Earlier outbreaks in Europe and Asia have infected humans, prompting fears of a bird flu epidemic.
In September, Russia reported the first cases of H5N1, another dangerous strain, in nearly two years
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