The European Commission has banned imports of live chickens and eggs from the US after the discovery of bird flu in Texas.
A Texas chicken flock was diagnosed with an "extremely infectious and fatal" form of bird flu yesterday. Officials are monitoring farmworkers in the area as a precaution against the first US outbreak of a severe form of theThe EU imports chicks and table and hatching eggs from the US, the Commission added, but gave no details of the size of the trade. The EU already has a ban on imports of Thai poultry.
Officials have said the strain in Texas was considered a low health threat to humans and different from the one blamed for the recent deaths of at least 22 people in Asia.The Asian outbreak has alarmed scientists, who say it shows that a deadly strain of bird flu can jump species. Bangkok officials have also confirmed the deaths of two house cats from bird flu, the first domesticated mammals known to have contracted the disease in this outbreak.