Sūduvos Farms ordered to slaughter 30 000 turkeys due to outbreak of avian influenza

Late in the evening of 28 November, the laboratory of the National Institute for Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment confirmed a case of avian influenza in the turkey farm of UAB “Sūduvos ūkis”, located in Liudvinavas sen., Marijampolė municipality. Today, at a meeting of the Emergency Operations Centre of the Marijampolė Municipality, it was decided to declare an emergency situation at the level of the municipality.

According to preliminary data, on 28 November, a sudden mortality of turkeys was observed in one of the 6 poultry houses. After the farm informed the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVT) Alytus District Supervision Division, samples of the dead birds were immediately taken and confirmed the presence of avian influenza virus on the farm.

Protection and surveillance zones have been established around the infected farm: within a radius of 10 km around the farm, the movement of live birds and their products in and out of the established zones is prohibited without a separate permit from the VMVT Alytus District Office. Restrictions in the defined zones will apply for at least 30 days after the initial disinfection has been carried out.

The holding is instructed to safely kill the remaining live birds and destroy all carcasses, litter and feed and to disinfect the whole area and poultry houses. Traceability of production is ongoing to prevent the spread of the disease. 

The Marijampolė Department of the National Public Health Centre (NPHC) will take preventive measures to identify persons who have come into contact with infected birds, their excreta or the environment. They will be provided with information on health monitoring, symptoms and recommendations. The risk to the public is currently assessed as low. No human cases of avian influenza have been detected in Lithuania so far.