Europe bans American live chicks and eggs

Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 24 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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The European Commission has banned the imports of live chicks and eggs from the USA. This is in response to the discovery of a more dangerous form of bird flu found in Texas.

At first, authorites thought the Texan flu was a mild harmless one. It has turned out to be 'an extremely infectios and fatal' strain.

This is the first time the USA has seen a severe form of bird flu in more than twenty years.

As a precaution, authorities are monitoring farming personnel. However, they also stressed that this strain is not dangerous for humans. It is not the same strain as the one in Asia which does kill humans.

The European Commission said 'The Commission will therefore take immediate action and suspend the import of live birds and eggs from all of the United States.'

Currently, the European Union does not allow the imports of any type of live bird from Thailand.

The Asian bird flu outbreak has baffled many experts. Especially recently when it seemed to jump species - they even found cats with bird flu.

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