Culling of chickens infected with bird flu in largest outbreak so far begins Tuesday

Laying hens infected with bird flu at a chicken farm in the Plzeň Region will begin to be culled on Tuesday, the Czech News Agency reports. The outbreak of bird flu at the farm in the village of Brod nad Tichou was confirmed on Friday. So far, the disease has infected roughly a sixth of the 742,000 laying hens. Approximately 2.5 million eggs from the farm will also have to be disposed of.

This is the largest bird flu outbreak in Czechia so far, the 19th outbreak this year and the ninth since the beginning of December. Outdoor breeding of poultry has been prohibited in the country since December 14 due to the epidemic.

The bird flu epidemic has been going on in Europe for more than a year now. Bird flu is potentially transmissible to humans.