Dutch Authorities Identify Highly Contagious Strain of Bird Flu

Dutch authorities confirmed Sunday that they had found a "highly contagious" form of bird flu at a poultry farm in the central Netherlands.

The European Commission is working on protective measures to limit the strain of bird flu. The measures would mostly include killing the animals and cleaning the farms they were kept in.

The strain found is known as H5N8 and has never been detected in humans, but the Dutch government said that it had the potential of infecting humans, BBC reports.

"It's a highly pathogenic strain for birds. For people it's not that dangerous: you'd only get it if you were in very close contact with the birds," Dutch Economics Ministry spokesman Jan van Diepen.

The highly contagious strain was first reported in a German farm, early November, Reuters reports.

Authorities in the Netherlands have already begun killing 150,000 hens at the infected farm, in the village of Hekendorp.

"This highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza is very dangerous for bird life. The disease can be transmitted from animals to humans," the Dutch government said in a statement.

A 72-hour ban was imposed by the Netherlands on transportation of poultry products, which included birds, eggs and used straw to and from poultry farms across the country that is famous for being the world's leading egg exporter.

There are as many as 697 poultry farms in the Netherlands and around 6 billion eggs are sold abroad every year.