Officials investigate poultry farm in northern Germany for suspected bird flu

Record ID: 79284

  • Title: Officials investigate poultry farm in northern Germany for suspected bird flu
  • Date: 11th November 2016
  • Summary: LUEBECK, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 11, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SIGN 'BIRD FLU' BEHIND BARRIER TAPE AT POULTRY FARM WHERE 18 TURKEYS HAVE DIED OF SUSPECTED BIRD FLU PEOPLE IN BIOHAZARD SUITS AT POULTRY FARM PIGEONS SITTING ON ROOF INVESTIGATORS IN BIOHAZARD SUITS AT POULTRY FARM AND PULL-OUT TO CLOSED-OFF ENTRY TO FARM POND WIDE POULTRY FARM PEOPLE IN BIOHAZARD SUITS WALKING BY POND
  • Embargoed: 26th November 2016 12:42
  • Keywords: bird flu epidemic Europe Germany poultry farm
  • Location: LUEBECK, GERMANY
  • City: LUEBECK, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA00158031VR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Officials investigated a poultry farm in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein on Friday (November 11) for traces of a severe strain of bird flu, H5N8.
    On Thursday (November 10) 18 turkeys had died at a poultry farm near Ivendorf. The dead animals were tested positive to the influenza subtype H5.
    According to media reports, the remaining 50 ducks and geese have to be culled in a case of a positive result.
    Several European countries have reported outbreaks of a severe strain of bird flu, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Thursday while France raised safety checks to counter the virus which can have a major impact on farmers.
    The World Health Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said Austria, Croatia and Switzerland had all officially reported the outbreaks, which concerned a particularly virulent strain affecting wild birds.
    Austria and Switzerland on Thursday took precautionary steps to prevent the spread of bird flu to domestic poultry after discovering cases of the disease in wild ducks around Lake Constance.
    The Dutch government took similar steps earlier this week, when it ordered farmers in the Netherlands to keep poultry flocks indoors following the outbreak of the virus.
    Though the H5N8 virus is highly contagious in birds, it has never been found in humans.
    It had been found in several European Union countries in 2014 and led to massive poultry cullings.
    France, the European Union's largest agricultural producer, had at one stage imposed stricter controls and banned duck and goose production in 17 administrative departments, to contain an earlier outbreak of the bird flu virus.
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