Germany says no signs of bird flu outside quarantine farm

[Buster's Uncle]

Germany says no signs of bird flu outside quarantine farm
Reuters  1 hour ago



HAMBURG (Reuters) - No signs of bird flu have been found anywhere else in the region around the farm in east Germany where it was discovered on Nov. 4, but the source of the infection there is still unknown, German authorities said on Thursday.

On Monday the highly contagious H5N8 strain of bird flu was also confirmed on an English duck farm, the same form of the virus already discovered in Germany and the Netherlands.

In Germany, none of the 3,353 tests on birds outside the farm in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where the disease was discovered were positive, the state agriculture ministry said in a statement. This included extensive tests on wild birds including swans and ducks.

The search for the source of infection continues, it said.

"Cross connections to the farms affected abroad have not been found up to now," said state agriculture minister Till Backhaus.

Tests show that the bird flu viruses found in Germany, the Netherlands and Britain are similar to one that devastated poultry flocks in South Korea earlier this year, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday.

German authorities were also examining other possible infection sources other than wild birds, such as animal feed, stable straw, animal slaughtering vehicles and farms which have various links to the infected farm, the state ministry said.

"So long as we have not identified a source, we must investigate in all directions and cannot take part in the sometimes wild speculation (about the contamination source)," Backhaus said.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by Pravin Char)


http://news.yahoo.com/germany-says-no-signs-bird-flu-outside-quarantine-141110206--sector.html

[Buster's Uncle]

FACTBOX: Bird flu concerns hit Europe as cases found in poultry
Reuters  23 hours ago



LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Here are some key facts about avian influenza, after cases of H5N8 bird flu were detected on farms in Germany, the Netherlands and Britain:

- Bird flu, known as avian influenza, is an infectious viral disease of birds that infects wild water fowl such as ducks, swans and geese and can spread to domestic poultry.

- Bird flu viruses are divided into two groups based on their ability to cause disease, or "pathogenicity". Highly pathogenic bird flu spreads rapidly, may cause serious disease and has high death rates in birds. Low pathogenic bird flu can cause mild disease that may be undetected, or cause no symptoms at all in some species of birds.

- Bird flu viruses can be transmitted among birds through direct contact with secretions from infected birds, especially faeces, or through contaminated feed, water, equipment, and human clothing and shoes.

- Flu viruses have a relatively high mutation rate and their genome structure allows them to interchange genetic material fairly easily, meaning two or more strains could "mix" to create a new threat.

- Most bird flu viruses don't infect people, but some, such as H7N9 and the highly pathogenic H5N1, have caused serious human disease and deaths.

- The H5N8 strain found in poultry in Germany, the Netherlands and England this month has never been detected in humans, but it led to the culling of millions of farm birds in Asia, mainly South Korea, outbreaks earlier this year.

- Tests have shown that the German, Dutch and British H5N8 viruses were similar to the one that hit Korea, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said.

- High pathogenic H5N1 bird flu first infected humans in 1997 during a poultry outbreak in Hong Kong. Since its re-emergence in 2003 and 2004, H5N1 has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa and has become entrenched in poultry in some countries, causing millions of poultry infections, several hundred human cases and many human deaths.

- H7N9 bird flu, a low pathogenic type, first infected three humans in China in March 2013. It has since infected more than 450 people and killed 175 of them, but no cases of H7N9 infection outside China have been reported to the World Health Organization.

- The majority of human cases of H5N1 and H7N9 have been associated with contact with infected live or dead poultry. There is no evidence the disease can be spread to people through properly cooked food.

(Reporting and writing by Kate Kelland in London and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; editing by David Clarke)


http://news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-concerns-hit-europe-cases-found-poultry-171938660.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Bird flu outbreak hits second Dutch farm, exports to remain frozen
Reuters
By Anthony Deutsch  1 hour ago



Police tape and warning signs are seen outside a duck farm in Nafferton, northern England November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Phil Noble



AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A second Dutch farm was hit by an outbreak of bird flu, the government said on Thursday, prompting the destruction of 43,000 chickens and prolonging crippling restrictions on trade in the world's leading egg exporter.

A three-day, nation-wide ban on the transportation of all poultry, eggs and related farm products was extended until Sunday, a statement said.

The measures have already led to tens of millions of euros (dollars) in losses. Industry groups had warned that an extension could bankrupt smaller producers.

Infections have also been discovered on farms in Germany and, this week, Britain.

The infection announced on Thursday was of the H5 strain, the government said, but it was unclear if it was the highly-contagious H5N8 virus discovered last week at a farm 20 km (12 miles) away.

Like in the previous outbreak, authorities imposed a 10 km exclusion zone around the farm in Ter Apel, in the central Netherlands, and were testing four nearby farms for the virus.

The first case in the Netherlands was reported last weekend in the village of Hekendorp, prompting the culling of 150,000 laying hens.

Authorities have yet to determine conclusively whether there is a link between the Dutch, German and British outbreaks, or whether they are related to infected birds in Asia.

Experts have said they suspect that all are connected and believe wild birds may have carried the disease to Europe and introduced it into commercial flocks.

The German and the first Dutch outbreak are of the H5N8 strain, which is highly contagious in birds. H5N8 has never been found in humans, unlike H5N1, which has killed 400 people mostly in Asia and the Middle East since 2003 and caused a global scare.

There can be no exports of poultry products as long as the transportation ban is in place, and the latest measures could lead to a supply shortage.

With a population of less than 17 million, the Netherlands is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products after the United States, selling $79 billion euros ($99 billion) of agricultural goods abroad last year.

Around 2,000 businesses, with more than 100 million chickens, export more than 6 billion eggs a year. The Netherlands is also the leading exporter of poultry meat in the European Union.

(Reporting By Anthony Deutsch and Thomas Escritt; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)


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