Tehran, Iran, February 5
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
Since October 10, about 6 million chickens have died of the highly contagious H5N8 bird flu in Iran, the country’s Veterinary chief Mehdi Khalaj said.
The severest death toll has been reported from Tehran Province, he said, adding in the meantime 400 million hatchings were also wasted, IRIB news agency reported February 5.
While 15 provinces had previously been reported to house the disease, eight of the provinces have not reported any instant of the H5N8 bird flu virus for one month, the official said.
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 outbreaks killed some 5,600 birds out of a total of nearly 283,500 on the farms, the OIE said in a report posted on its website. All animals were killed or slaughtered.
The H5N8 virus has never been found in humans but has infected wild birds and farms in several European countries in the past months.