Bird flu discovered at another Dutch poultry farm, 28,000 birds to be slaughtered

Dutch authorities have discovered bird flu at another poultry farm and are slaughtering all 28,000 birds there, in the latest case of the infectious disease to hit the country's agriculture sector.

The Economic Affairs Ministry said in a statement Sunday that birds at the farm in the town of Zoeterwoude, 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of The Hague, were suffering from an H5 strain of bird flu. Further tests were underway to discover which exact strain.

Tens of thousands of birds have been slaughtered in the Netherlands in recent weeks after farms were infected with the H5N8 bird flu strain, which is highly infectious to birds but poses little risk to humans.

In 2003 a major outbreak of bird flu in the Netherlands caused some 300 million euros in damages.