Avian Influenza Confirmed at Lutjegast Layer Farm

Overview

• The ministry confirmed the outbreak on Tuesday, October 27, at a laying-poultry farm in Lutjegast and ordered the culling of about 45,000 birds to stop transmission.
• An immediate transport ban covers a 10-kilometre zone and prohibits moving live birds, hatching or table eggs, poultry manure and used litter.
• Twenty-one other poultry businesses lie inside the restricted zone and may face operational disruption while movement rules and hygiene protocols are enforced.
• The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority is carrying out tracer investigations to find risky contacts and the ministry has asked experts for a fresh risk assessment without imposing a national housing order for now.
• Industry group AVINED had warned in early October that autumn raises avian flu risk and urged strict biosecurity, a context that helps explain the swift culling and movement controls and signals authorities will watch for further cases.