The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency has reported an outbreak of the H5N8 bird flu virus on a duck farm in the town of Rakovski in southern Bulgaria.
The agency said on February 17 that nearly 6,000 ducks at the farm will be culled after the first cases of the highly pathogenic virus was discovered in Bulgaria in 10 months.
A 3-kilometer protection zone had been set around the farm.
Authorities also have banned the movement of birds within the protection zone as well as the sale of eggs and poultry from the area.
In October 2018, authorities from the food safety agency culled more than 100,000 chickens and more than 16,000 ducks in southern Bulgarian villages to prevent the spread of the disease after an outbreak there was confirmed by laboratory tests.
Authorities Try To Contain Bird Flu Outbreak In Southern Bulgaria
A vaccine against avian influenza (bird flu) in Belgium (file photo)