For the first time in more than 50 years, animal health officials in Poland are dealing with an outbreak of Newcastle disease.
According to a report from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the presence of the virus was confirmed at a farm in the village of Topilec on July 11. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was conducted at the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) laboratory, with those results coming back positive.
While the report did not specify what type of birds were affected, other than referring to them as domestic, the impacted flock involved 43,410 birds. Of those, 29,488 had dies, while the remaining 13,922 birds were depopulated and disposed of.
According to the WOAH, the last time Poland had a case of Newcastle disease was December 31, 1971.
In addition to depopulation and disposal of carcasses, byproducts and waste, other control measures implemented include disinfection, zoning, movement control, traceability and surveillance within the restricted zone.
In addition to dealing with a new case of Newcastle disease, Polish officials have been actively battling an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), with 59 cases as of early July. France and Hungary are the only two European countries to report more HPAI cases.
The country has also been battling African swine fever (ASF) with five cases reported between June 17 and July 7.
Poland is the home to several major poultry companies. Polish companies Cedrob and Animex rank as Europe’s 12th and 18th largest broiler producers, having slaughtered 191 million and 150 million chickens during the past year, respectively. The country is also home to three major egg producers. Wozniak Poultry Farms, Kruczyn Mariusz Pachura, and Przywitowski Poultry Farm have flocks of 10.5 million, 2.6 million and 1.6 million laying hens, respectively.
