Bird Flu entered Germany

Last week 6 wild birds-5 swans and 1 goose were found dead in Germany with positive H5N1 strain of the disease. This is the first confirmed case for European Union this year. In 2006 more than 700 wild birds in the EU were detected with avian influenza H5N1. Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Britain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, France and Hungary confirmed cases of bird flu Last year.

Spokeswoman for Germany's Friedrich Loeffler animal disease institute said that the number of infected birds remains at six, there are no additional cases.

Poultry farmers in the Nuremberg region have been ordered to confine all poultry to closed stalls. As of Saturday, 21-day ban was imposed on poultry products in or out of the area, which is now a quarantine zone.

The spokeswoman for the Agriculture Ministry of Germany said that the government did not expect the outbreak to spread to other regions of the country.

Now the authorities are investigating the issue how the disease entered Germany.

It is possible the bird flu was spread from the Czech Republic, where an outbreak was reported recently, but this is only conjecture said spokeswoman for the Agriculture Ministry of Germany.

As of 21 June Russia has banned poultry imports from the Czech Republic. Restrictions will apply to imports of live birds and incubation eggs, and to all kinds of poultry that were not thermally treated, feeds and feed additives for birds, and used equipment for keeping and slaughtering poultry, the Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) reports.

Bird flu has been spreading across southeast Asia, killing two people in Vietnam this month, the first deaths there since 2005.

Totally, the H5N1 virus has killed 200 people out of 300 known cases, according to the World Health Organisation. None of the bird flu victims were from Europe.
source:www.emaxhealth.com