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Home > Archive > UK gardening > June 2007 > Deadly bird flu kills six wild birds, Germany says
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Deadly bird flu kills six wild birds, Germany says
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| Deadly bird flu kills six wild birds, Germany says
Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:52 PM IST
http://tinyurl.com/2mlzzp
HAMBURG (Reuters) - Six dead wild birds have tested positive in
Germany for a lethal strain of bird flu, but authorities said on
Monday they did not expect the disease to spread outside the southern
region where it was discovered over the weekend.
On Sunday, three wild birds found dead in Nuremberg in the southern
state of Bavaria tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the
disease.
The number of cases has since risen to six, with five swans and one
goose infected, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, a veterinary
institution, said.
Authorities continued to investigate the outbreak, the first in
Germany this year, which was discovered as part of a national testing
programme for dead birds.
The government did not expect the outbreak to spread to other regions
of the country, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Ministry said.
Investigations were focusing on how the disease entered Germany.
It was possible it spread from the Czech Republic, where an outbreak
was reported recently, the spokeswoman said.
"But this is only conjecture," she said.
Poultry farmers in the Nuremberg region have been ordered to confine
all poultry to closed stalls. As of Saturday, a 21-day ban was imposed
on moving poultry or poultry products in or out of the area, which is
now a quarantine zone.
City officials also warned cat and dog owners not to allow their pets
to roam freely in the quarantine zone.
Last year, some 13 European Union member states had confirmed cases of
bird flu -- Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Britain, the
Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, France and
Hungary.
Bird flu has been spreading across southeast Asia, killing two people
in Vietnam this month, the first deaths there since 2005.
Globally, the H5N1 virus has killed nearly 200 people out of over 300
known cases, according to the World Health Organisation. None of the
victims were from Europe.
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