Bird flu suspected in Austria and Germany

After Greece and Italy, Austria and Germany have detected apparent cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 in wild swans near the Austrian-Slovenian border and on the Baltic Sea.

The H5 avian influenza virus has been found in dead swans in south east Austria, near the Slovenian border, and on the German isle of Ruegen, on the Baltic sea. Samples have been sent for confirmation to the EU expert laboratory in Weybridge, UK, but both German and Austrian health officials are convinced that the deaths were caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1.

Commonly agreed precautionary safety measures are already being applied in affected EU countries. The avian influenza situation and the co-ordination of national measures will be discussed by member states’ national experts at the next meeting of the standing committee on the food chain and animal health on 16-17 February 2006. 

So far, no cases of infected domestic poultry have been reported in the EU, but following the confirmation of the presence of H5N1 in Italy, various parts of the country have seen poultry sales cut by a half. The situation is even worse in Greece, where poultry sales have crashed by over 90% since 11 February 2006. 

As the bird migratory season is set to start in the coming months, France, Germany and the Netherlands have announced that they will order poultry producers to keep birds indoors to protect them from coming into contact with migratory birds.

Read more with Euractiv

Deadly bird flu outbreaks in EU

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 has been found in wild swans in Greece, Italy and Bulgaria. Further tests are being carried out on the H5 virus found in a wild swan in Slovenia.