Several cases of bird flu have occurred in France and Denmark.
Now the virus has reached Germany.
Thousands of affected animals have to be slaughtered.
The bird flu virus is spreading in Europe and has reached Germany.
After cases from France and Denmark, one of the largest poultry farmers in Germany is affected.
The consequences are devastating.
Brussels / Gnoien - Hundreds of hens were killed on the French island of Corsica, and in Denmark the authorities ordered the slaughter of more than 25,000 birds.
At the beginning of the month, 200,000 birds had to be killed in the Netherlands.
Bird flu has now reached one of the largest poultry farmers in
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
.
As a spokesman for the Schwerin Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday, the bird flu virus
H5N8 was
detected in a stable of the company near Gnoien.
The company keeps around
70,000 laying hens
at several locations
in the region
.
In order to fight the animal disease, all animals will probably have to be killed at all locations, said a spokesman for the Rostock district on Tuesday morning.
The preparations have started.
Bird flu in Germany - "very aggressive virus form" according to experts
According to Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus (SPD), around 100,000 animals at livestock owners in the northeast are now affected.
According to experts, this year is a
very aggressive form of the virus
.
Preparations for a killing were also in progress at a turkey farmer in Rothenkirchen near Rambin, where around 16,000 animals were to be killed.
3,000 hens and 650 ducks have already been killed in a holding near Neubukow.
The French authorities called on all poultry farmers to lock up their animals in order to protect them from wild birds that may be infected.
Denmark suspended the export of eggs
outside the EU.
The bird flu virus is not harmful to humans, but it is devastating for agriculture.
Bird flu cases in Germany
In
wild birds in
Germany
, the bird flu virus has
been detected in late October that shares
Friedrich Loeffler Institute
(FLI) with.
At the same time, dead water birds were found on the North and Baltic Sea coasts and in Hamburg.
A number of virus variants (H5N8, H5N5, H5N1) were detected that are genetically related to the H5N8 viruses that appeared in Europe * in 2016/2017.
In 2016, poultry farmers * in Germany feared bird flu.
After a first case in Saxony, the situation in Germany quickly deteriorated.
Is Avian Flu Dangerous for Humans?
Avian influenza pathogens are dangerous for poultry and wild birds.
There is so far
no evidence to suggest
,
that people can be infected with the virus
, the FLI emphasized.
"So it is not about zoonotic viruses" writes the institute in its current situation report on avian influenza.
And further: "The current H5 viruses are only largely related to the H5N1 viruses, which are dangerous for humans and which also appeared in Europe in 2006/2007".
(
dpa, AFP, ml) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen digital network
In the fight against African swine fever (ASF), Saxony is building a fence along the border with Poland.
African swine fever was first detected in Brandenburg in September, then also in Saxony.
Brandenburg recorded 146 cases (as of November 11, 2020) in wild boars.
The disease is almost always fatal for pigs.
It is harmless to humans.
List of rubric lists: © Carsten Rehder / dpa