Brussels, 25/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 24 June, the European Commission announced that several swans and wild ducks contaminated with the highly pathogenic bird flu virus (H5N1) had been found in Nuremberg in Bavaria in the south of Germany. These are the first cases of H5N1 bird flu reported in Germany this year. A few days ago, the virus was found in a poultry farm with 6,000 turkeys in the Czech Republic. The last cases of bird flu in the EU were in February in Hungary and the United Kingdom (see EUROPE 9360). EU veterinary experts will assess the bird flu situation at a meeting on 28 June.
The German authorities rapidly applied the Community measures to combat the H5N1 virus in wild birds: putting in place a three-kilometre (minimum) control area and a ten-kilometre monitoring area around the spot where the virus was found. Inside these areas, the transport and the gathering together of poultry and other captive birds are banned, as is the transfer (to other countries) of eggs for hatching, and poultry or game bird products. In addition, Germany has banned the hunting of wild birds. Exemptions are allowed for, in particular for the movement of one-day old chicks and poultry for immediate slaughter.
Some counties, like France, have strengthened their monitoring measures (biosecurity measures) given the higher risk of spread of the epizootic.
The Commission points out that in 2006, the H5N1 strain of the virus was found on over 700 wild birds in the EU. (lc)