Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Babayeva / The State Veterinary Service of the Azerbaijani Agriculture Ministry completed its 8th testing in the prevention against 'bird flu' in Azerbaijan.
The press secretary at the State Veterinary Service of the Agriculture Ministry of Azerbaijan, Yolchu Khanvely, said on 2 July that the testing was done by a special commission which consists of special representatives of the Veterinary Service, Ecology, Natural Resources and Health Ministries, as well as representatives of the hunting community. Monitoring covered the Apsheron peninsula, the districts of Devechi, Salyan, Agjebedy and Salyan.
According to Khanvely, no dead and ill birds were discovered during the monitoring and no migrant birds were observed.
In addition, he stressed that samples of blood and pathologic materials from wild and domestic birds were being examined. The laboratory results will be announced on 7 July. After this, the date of the next monitoring will be confirmed.
Since 2006, nearly fifteen studies and tests have been conducted in Azerbaijan, and no sign of 'bird flu' has been discovered. To prevent the infiltration of the bird flu virus into the country, all frontier veterinarian points are operating at medium-security, and the prohibition on hunting, selling and eating of wild birds in the country still remains in force.