Azerbaijan bans Turkish poultry imports due to bird flu outbreak

The ban imposed by the State Veterinary Service is to prevent the virus (H5N1) from spreading to Azerbaijan. 

Turkey reported an outbreak of the virus in a backyard in the northern province of Kastamonu, the first case of the highly pathogenic strain in seven years, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday.

The Turkish farm ministry said in a report posted on the OIE website that 35 backyard poultry died in the outbreak which started on April 23 and that another 92 were destroyed within a three kilometer radius.

Monitoring activities continued, it added.

H5N1 bird flu, which first infected humans in 1997 in Hong Kong, has since spread from Asia to Europe and Africa and has become entrenched in poultry in some countries, causing millions of poultry infections and several hundred human deaths.