SOFIA, Jan 25 —Bulgaria will begin culling about 25,000 quails and destroy quail eggs on an industrial farm near the capital Sofia after detecting a highly infectious strain of bird flu, the food safety authorities said today.

The outbreak at the farm in the town of Etropole, some 80 kilometres east of Sofia was detected after reports for high mortality among the birds, the food safety agency said in a statement.

The risk to humans from the disease is considered to be low, but past outbreaks among farm birds have resulted in extensive slaughtering programmes to contain the spread. — Reuters