Britain, Netherlands took all steps to contain bird flu cases-EU

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Monday praised the action taken by Britain and the Netherlands to contain their respective cases of bird flu, saying all protocols had been followed. "We can say that all the protocols were followed and we can only praise the behaviour of the authorities of the two member states," a Commission spokesman told a daily news briefing. The spokesman said that in the Dutch case, the H5NB strain of the avian flu virus was found on a farm of 150,000 layer chickens. All the animals were killed and destroyed, the farm was disinfected and a protection zone was established. In the British case, the virus was discovered at a duck farm in North Yorkshire. "Also in this case all the protocol was followed, measures were taken. 6,000 ducks were killed on the holding and the zoning measures were applied, so the poultry cannot infect other poultry in the area," the spokesman said. He said the cases would be reviewed again by the Commission on Thursday. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)