The Ministry of Agriculture informed that after the outbreak of bird flu at the Rea's company farm on March 3, another case has been confirmed with the H5N1 disease at the " AIBA " poultry farm, owned by the head of the Albanian Football Federation, Armando Duka.
The announcement was made only through an online statement posted on March 13 on the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture, and was only learned after media interest, 4 days later, on March 17.
The Ministry has not made any public statements so far.
On the first day, the veterinary service found 1848 dead birds at the farm located in the village of Maliq Muço in Rrashbull, Durrës, and the area was quarantined.
The media reports that around 65,000 birds from a single barn have died, and according to sources, nearly 40,000 of them were destroyed by burning, but it is not officially known when and where they were destroyed.
According to the ministry's official announcement, samples were taken and analyzed at the Food Safety and Veterinary Institute, where avian influenza was confirmed positive.
From this 3 km quarantined focus, no poultry is allowed to go to the market (in open areas or live animal markets), nor from other uninfected silos. This order affects farmers in the Administrative Units of Sukth, Manëz, Katund i Ri, Maminas, Gjepalaj, Rashbull, Thumanë, Bubq, Prezë and Vorë.
According to the ministry, only the transport of poultry to the slaughterhouse is permitted with authorization from the Veterinarian after conducting a PCR test that is not infected.
The Ministry says that 211 farms with 2,958 heads, including small family farms, have been monitored by 5 groups of Official Control Veterinarians present on the ground and the Institute of Public Health has been notified for risk assessment.
At the beginning of March, the farm of the "Rea's" company in Durrës was affected by bird flu and placed in quarantine, where within 2 days more than 23 thousand chickens died, while by March 6 there was talk of about 70 thousand dead chickens in one Rea's company shed alone.
But the figures have not been updated with official information, and the exact number of dead birds is unknown.
There is still no public announcement regarding their destruction, when, where or how it was done, a process that should be supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The risk of bird flu
Bird flu is dangerous because it can also affect people, with farmers and factory workers being the most at risk.
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with infected poultry as well as through undercooked meat or eggs, but according to specialists, there is no risk if foods are cooked at a high temperature, 70 degrees Celsius.