Bird flu in Germany

Jul 4 2007

German authorities have found more cases of bird flu in wild birds.

The lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has now been detected in two birds tested in the eastern state of Thueringen after as many as 100 birds of various types were found dead.

Germany's Friedrich-Loeffler National Animal Diseases Institute says another 40 are being tested but the source of the outbreaks, the first in Germany in 2007, remains unclear.

The institute has found the virus in a black-throated diver, and a swan is also believed to have died from the H5N1 virus.

A total of nine wild birds with the H5N1 virus were discovered in Leipzig in the eastern state of Saxony and in the southern city of Nuremberg last week.

Authorities have imposed a 3-km restricted zone around the area where the wild bird was found, and all poultry within that area must be confined inside.

French authorities are also investigating possible cases of bird flu in 3 swans found dead on a lake in Moselle near the German border.

Last year, 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 continues it's spread across southeast Asia and has killed two people in Vietnam this month, the first deaths there since 2005.

According to the World Health Organisation to date the H5N1 virus has killed nearly 200 people out of over 300 known cases worldwide but none of the victims was from Europe.

Millions of birds have also died, either directly from the virus or from culling to prevent it's spread.

Experts continue to be concerned that the virus will mutate into a form which can be transferred between people, which could in turn trigger a pandemic.