Saudi in new bird flu cull
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Wednesday, 30 January 2008
The Saudi agriculture ministry ordered a cull of 158,000 chickens on Tuesday following the confirmation of a new outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu that is dangerous to humans.
The outbreak was detected on a poultry farm in the Al-Kharj region, 80 kilometres south of Riyadh, said a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Since the latest outbreak of bird flu was discovered on November 15, some four million birds have been culled on at least 15 separate infected farms.
Saudi Arabia also reported an outbreak of avian influenza last March.
An Agriculture Ministry official told ArabianBusiness.com in December the economic impact of the disease had so far been limited, with the number of birds culled representing less than 1% of the kingdom’s poultry population.
Farmers affected by the outbreak will receive government compensation of 80% of total losses, however birds must be killed by the ministry for farmers to be eligible.
There have been no reports of the disease spreading to humans in the oil-rich kingdom.
Worldwide, H5N1 has killed more than 200 people since 2003, most of them in Asia, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
READERS' COMMENTS
MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM
TOP IN MIDDLE EAST HEALTHCARE
TOP MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS STORIES
ALSO IN MIDDLE EAST HEALTHCARE
LATEST MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS NEWS
- Banking & Finance: Dubai gov't repays $1bn aviation bond
- Personal Finance: Credit bureaus combine to form regional group
- Healthcare: Kuwait swine flu fatalities rise to 24
- Politics & Economics: Mideast needs to improve insolvency rules - World Bank
- Travel & Hospitality: ADNH sees net profit up by 28% but hotels suffer
SHARE PRICE CHECK
RELATED STORIES
Ministry of Agriculture and Water - Saudi Arabia
- Bitter harvest
4 Sep '09 | Features - Saudi to buy farmland abroad amid food crisis
14 Jun '08 | News




