More Bird Flu In Germany

A two mile quarantine area has been implemented around the location...

At Ukmedix News we previously reported that six wild birds in the south part of Germany and been identified as having the bird flu virus and we noted that German health officials were hoping that they could contain this small outbreak and that Germany would stay bird flu free. Unfortunately for them this has not happened.

Yesterday the German Health Ministry announced that three more wild swans in the east part of Germany had been tested after being found dead and also had the H5N1 avian flu virus. This is the second small outbreak of the deadly disease in Germany in a week and it is especially worrying as Germany had been bird flu free in all of 2007. The new outbreak occurred in the area called Frohburg which is near the city of Liepzig.

The first outbreak of avian flu in Germany this year occurred near Nuremburg which is about 120 miles south of Liepzig. In accordance with standard regulations a two mile quarantine area has been implemented around the location where the dead swans were found. Also all birds in this area have to be kept indoors and poultry is not allowed to be moved around the countryside under any circumstances. As an added precaution the health authorities are also asking that cats and dogs must not be allowed to go around on their own and if they are taken outside they must be on leads. Research has shown that household pets especially cats are very susceptible to the H5N1 avian flu virus and thus it is wise to keep them away from birds.

The Czech Republic which borders Germany has also recently suffered from a bird flu outbreak in a turkey farm which meant that over 6,000 turkeys had to be culled. Last year in April Germany had another outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus which resulted in over 20,000 birds being culled. This was the only previous outbreak of the avian flu in Germany.