A low pathogenic H7 strain can mutate to a high pathogenic strain that is highly contagious and fatal for chickens. In either case preventative slaughtering must be carried out on the farm. This will be done by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) in line with European legislation.
Measures
As of Saturday 3 August 2013 at 09.00 hours, a movement ban applies for poultry, eggs, poultry manure and used litter in a zone of more than 1 kilometre around the farm. There are no other poultry farms within this area.