PARIS (Reuters) – Iraq has reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu in the city of Samaraa in the centre of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday.
The virus was found on Jan. 12 at a farm some 130 kilometres (81 miles) north of the capital Baghdad and killed 63,700 birds in the 68,800-strong flock, the OIE said in a report posted on its website, citing the Iraqi ministry of agriculture.
The remaining animals were culled, it said.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Gus Trompiz, editing by Louise Heavens)
