Tehran, Iran, April 15
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
Although the threat of the disease is not fully eliminated yet, the bird flu epidemic in Iran has subsided, according to Mehdi Khalaj, head of Iran Veterinary Organization.
Individual occurrences of the disease are in place and Iran is taking due care to fight an epidemic regarding the ongoing migration of birds from the south of the country to the north, he said, IRIB news agency reported April 15.
The highly contagious H5N8 bird flu killed some 6 million chickens from October last year to February, the severest death toll having hit Tehran Province. Four hundred million hatchings were also wasted.
Iran reported two outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu virus at farms located in the Tehran region, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said in November, citing a report from the Iranian Agriculture Ministry.
The H5N8 virus has never been found in humans but infected wild birds and farms in several European countries last year.