European Commission veterinarians will provide an exceptional vaccination of geese against avian influenza

Veterinarians will soon submit to the European Commission (EC) a report on the vaccination of 800 geese last year against bird flu in Novi Hradi in southern Bohemia. It was the first vaccination against the disease in commercial breeding in the Czech Republic, unique even in Europe. A similar vaccine is banned in the European Union, so vets had to get an exemption to vaccinate genetically important breeds. František Kouba, director of vets in South Bohemia, told ČTK. Nové Hrady is the only goose farm in the Czech Republic with more than fifty years of tradition.

There is another problem with bird flu. Due to the disease’s occurrence last year in many places, the Czech Republic does not have the status of an avian influenza-free country, which limits the poultry trade. “As a republic, we will apply to the European Commission for the status of a country free from avian influenza. This has a significant impact on trade. A number of third countries to which we export poultry products or hatching eggs will not accept these products if we have a disease that can to move there.”

In Brussels, vets will also explain how they vaccinated Novi Hrad’s geese last year. Genetically rare animals can only be vaccinated in emergency situations in the European Union. Common breeds do not; For example, it takes about 35 days for broilers to fatten, during which time antibodies do not develop, veterinarians said. Last year, they had to negotiate an exemption for Novi Hrad’s geese as a genetically important breed. They were vaccinated sequentially with three doses. Vaccination in reproduction is new, some European countries so far have only vaccinated animals in zoos.

“It was an exceptional situation, the so-called emergency vaccination. The vaccine was originally intended for ruminant poultry and domestic chickens. We had to do a test on about 30 geese and observe whether they had a shock for two hours. The first vaccination in our republic, exceptional even in the European Community. Given Until the vaccination of poultry was the subject of a meeting of the veterinary authorities in Prague during the Czech Presidency of the European Union, there will be another meeting in Brussels,” Koba said.

In November 2021, the infection was confirmed at the Novi Hradi fisheries farm. There were about 5,000 birds in the breeding flock, including ducks, and veterinarians had to eliminate about 4,100 of them. Last year, four flocks of geese, 818 birds, were vaccinated against bird flu.

In Brussels, the vets will explain how they have progressed in the past year. “There are no instructions anywhere. All member states are interested in this. We will talk about how to do this in the future, because it can happen to anyone in Europe,” Lucy Vilasova of the Veterinary Department of South Bohemia told ČTK.

There were four outbreaks of bird flu in southern Bohemia last year. Last December, veterinarians euthanized 15,000 ducks from breeding company Mavela Dynín in Frahelž. The breeder has not yet placed the new animals in the halls. “They haven’t got rid of all the materials that could be infectious yet,” Al-Qubbah said. They added a few stacks of old straw.

The largest outbreak of infection in the Czech Republic in recent times occurred last year on a large farm in Brod nad Tichou in the Tachovsk region. Veterinarians took nearly 1,000 tons of poultry from the company to the rendering plant and had to discard seven million eggs.

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