Bird Flu Update: Bulgarian outbreak is Newcastle virus, not H5N1

Bulgaria revealed last week that it has detected an outbreak of bird flu in three farms near the Turkish-Greece border, and fearing that it may be the H5N1 strain, 1500 domestic chickens have been slaughter or culled and seven villages were placed in quarantine.

The good news: tests showed the outbreak wasn’t caused by either the H5 or H7 strains, Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil told reporters (Reuters), instead this was a mixed infection of bird flu and Newcastle disease. The infected village will continue to be quarantined and the European Union will still band poultry exported from the region but judicious culling of chickens will prevent further spread of the disease.

Newcastle disease virus is a contagious and fatal disease that’s spread through direct contact between a health bird a the bodily discharge of an infected bird. The virus is so virulent and rapidly infective that birds die without showing any clinical signs. It’s transmitted through bird droppings and secretions and can be picked up on shoes and clothing so commercially raised chickens are especially vulnerable.

From Wikipedia: Exposure of humans to infected birds (for example in poultry processing plants) can cause mild conjunctivitis and influenza-like symptoms, but NDV otherwise poses no hazard to human health. Interest in the use of NDV as an anticancer agent has arisen from the ability of NDV to selectively kill human tumour cells with limited toxicity to normal cells.

Today, there should be a collective sigh of relief in Bulgaria.

[News Source: Reuters]

Tags: avian influenza, bird flu deaths, Bulgaria, H5N1, Newcastle disease virus