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DISASTER NEWS
Bird flu breaks
out in Germany, expands in Czech Republic among
fowl
28 Jun 2007
Germany has
reported this week at least nine wild birds
had the lethal H5N1 subtype of the bird flu
virus, marking Germany's first confirmed
cases this year. The wild birds were found
in Nuremberg in the southern state of
Bavaria, and near Leipzig in the eastern
state of Saxony. A quarantine went in effect
on Saturday (June 23), with poultry banned
from being moved in or out of a 2.5-mile (4
km) radius area for a 21-day period. Poultry
farmers in the Nuremberg area have also been
ordered to confine all birds in enclosed
stalls. In Germany's eastern neighbor, the
Czech Republic, the H5N1 virus has spread to
a second poultry farm this week, on the
heels of last week's initial outbreak. The
second farm in the village of Norin was
inside the surveillance zone, just 2.5 miles
(4 km) from the first outbreak discovered
last week at a poultry farm in Tisova
village. Czech officials plan to destroy all
the poultry in Norin. Russia and Ukraine
banned poultry imports this week from the
Czech Republic. H5N1 was also identified in
a wild swan on Wednesday (June 27) in the
Lednice wetland area in the country's
southeast. The bird flu virus in both
southern Germany and the Czech Republic were
found to be very similar and likely have a
common origin. The Friedrick Loeffler
Institute in Germany compared samples from
Nuremberg and a Czech turkey farm, finding
they had a 99.2 percent match. The institute
said this "points to an as yet undetermined
common origin for both viruses." Elke
Reinking, institute spokeswoman, also said,
"We assume infected wild birds infected both
the Czech poultry and the water fowl in
Germany." It is unclear if there is any
direct connection between the German and
Czech outbreaks, however Reinking elaborated
that it would be "highly unusual" for meat
exported from the Czech farm to have carried
the virus directly to Germany. Last year 13
European countries reported confirmed bird
flu cases, including Germany and the Czech
Republic. According to the World Health
Organization, the H5N1 virus has thus far
infected 300 people with 200 fatalities
globally, but no human victims were from
Europe.
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