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Gang,

H5N1 has been detected for the first time in poultry in the Czech Republic.  It was about this time last year (April 2006, actually) when German authorities culled thousands of poultry that were contaminated with H5N1.   It was February, 2006 when French flocks were culled.  And, of course, it was just this past February when Hungarian H5N1 was detected in British turkeys at the Bernard Matthews processing plant.

So H5N1 continues to reappear, to spread, and to wreak economic havoc.

let's hope that's all it does.

Prague- A bird flu virus has emerged in a poultry flock for the first time in the Czech republic, the State Veterinary Administration said.

The virus was confirmed in a turkey flock in Usti nad Orlice, east Bohemia, this afternoon. Part of the flock of 6,000 birds have died. The results of control checks that are expected on Thursday will confirm what type of virus has appeared.

The Regional Veterinary Office is preparing stringent precautions including a ban on any future transfers of birds from the afflicted flock and checks of the previous transfers of the poultry.

A 3-km inner protection zone and a 10-km outer surveillance zone will also soon be in force.

The security council of the Pardubice region, east Bohemia, will hold a special meeting, deputy regional governor Roman Linek told CTK today.

The remaining birds in the afflicted flock in the village of of Tisova will be culled.

Czechs discover first bird flu outbreak in poultry

PR AGUE, June 20 (Reuters) - Czech veterinary authorities on Wednesday confirmed the country's first case of bird flu in poultry, the CTK news agency reported.

The agency quoted the state veterinary office as saying it would take until Friday to know if the case, found in a turkey, was the deadly H5N1 strain.

A state veterinary office spokesman could not immediately confirm the CTK report.

CTK said the flock of turkeys where the virus was found totaled around 6,000. It gave no further details.

The Czechs found several cases of the H5N1 strain in swans last spring, but have never recorded any cases in poultry.

The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts fear it could change into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world, killing millions.

So far, most human cases can be traced to direct or indirect contact with infected birds and hundreds of millions of birds have died or been culled.

The first case of bird flu in the Czech Republic was found in March 2006 after which 13 cases of the disease was registered. In all cases wild birds were affected - swans that were infected by the H5N1 virus dangerous for human beings.