The Food and Veterinary Agency has today decided to cancel the import of live birds from Albania, after the appearance of bird flu in the neighboring country.

FVA spokesman, Lamir Thaçi in a response to the Telegraph said that in Kosovo currently there are no such reported cases, but that such a case was in February this year.

"Today, on 21.03.2022, the import from the state of Albania for the Durrës region of live animals (birds) was stopped, based on the veterinary law and the regulation for the fight against this disease.

In Kosovo, this disease has been present since May 2021, when we have the first confirmed cases in households or otherwise known as yard chickens.

Then from September we have cases of the disease outbreak in commercial farms but even in these years the last case was in February of this year.

"All the time, the reaction headquarters formed by the FVA has been active and we are managing the situation," Thaçi said.

He added that they are in constant contact with the Albanian authority for ongoing information regarding the spread of the disease.

Days ago in Albania, respectively in Durrës, another disease was reported which had caused the death of 200 birds.

After the analysis, the Ministry of Agriculture of Albania had announced that it is a case of infectious laryngotracheitis in birds.

Regarding this type of disease, the spokesperson of the FVA, has announced that so far in Kosovo no case of this bird disease has been identified.

He said that Laryngotracheitis is a viral disease of birds which does not aggravate human health is not zoonotic and for this disease farmers apply regular vaccination as a preventive measure.

"So far in Kosovo not a single case of this bird disease has been identified.

H5N8 Avian Influenza can affect humans but with low pathogenicity and humans can be affected by direct contact with birds (if exposed to this virus too much) but the infection passes with mild signs of common influenza.

"And the disease Laryngotracheitis of birds does not affect people only birds", said Thaçi.

Otherwise, the FVA has announced that it has increased the veterinary border control and that it has been raised to the level of detailed supervision of imports of poultry consignments.