PARIS (Reuters) -Slovakia has reported an outbreak of bird flu on a poultry farm in the northern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Wednesday, as Europe faces a seasonal upturn in the deadly disease.
The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, killed 27 birds on a farm with chickens, geese and ducks near the border with Poland, the Paris-based WOAH said, citing the Slovakian authorities. The rest of the 197-strong flock was slaughtered.
The spread of bird flu has raised concerns among governments and the poultry industry after it killed or led to the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry in recent years, disrupting supply, fuelling higher food prices and raising the risk of a new pandemic.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, editing by Gus Trompiz)
