Officials confirm H5N1 virus on German farm, cull massive poultry

The extremely infectious H5N1 virus that continues to spread like wild fire across Asian and European poultry stocks has again shown its existence in a southern German poultry farm.

German officials confirmed Sunday that they have detected the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in ducklings at a poultry farm in Bavaria, near the southern city of Erlangen. They confirmed the presence of H5N1 bird-flu virus in five of the 400 dead birds collected from the farm.

Ursula Huber, a spokeswoman for the German agricultural ministry, also confirmed Sunday that the dead ducks from the farm in Wachenroth in Bavaria's Erlangen-Hoechstadt area have been tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus strain, which can be lethal for humans living in close contact with birds.

On Friday, more than 400 birds were found dead at the farm and the tests conducted at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute of Veterinary Medicine confirmed that the birds died of the "highly pathogenic" H5N1 variant.

Consequently, the German health officials slaughtered 160,000 geese over the weekend, the biggest ever culling operation in Germany. Started late on Saturday, the culling operation conducted by a team of eight vets and poultry workers at the farm ended on Sunday afternoon. The birds were placed in three large containers where they were either gassed or electrocuted, officials said.

The health authorities have set up a 3-kilometers control zone around the farm, near the city of Erlangen which is about 200 kilometers north of Munich, as officials began searching for the cause of the infection. The ministry urged the domestic fowl keepers in the affected zone to keep their animals indoors in order to protect them from wild birds.

"We have not been able to pinpoint the source of outbreak," said Bavarian Health Secretary Otmar Bernhard.

After a brief lull, H5N1 strain of bird flu remerged in June in Germany. Health officials from the southern German city of Nuremberg confirmed on June 25 that eight dead birds discovered near two lakes in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg were infected with the highly pathogenic bird flu virus H5N1.

Last month, the virus was detected in scores of wild birds in four German states. Concerned with the spread of virus, the German authorities raised the alert for bird flu from "moderate" to "high" after 38 more wild birds were tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain in eastern part of the country.

Germany has come under the dark wings of bird flu once again after 2005, when it broke out on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen and had spread to six of the country's 16 states. The strain of H5N1 virus spread to mammals, killing a cat and a stone marten, however, it did not affect humans.

As of July, 2007, Bird flu virus has killed 191 people out of the 313 cases reported, according to the World Health Organization. As of May 31st, the highest number of cases has been reported in Indonesia, where out of the 98 infected, 78 lost their lives.

Most human infections have occurred after contact with birds infected with H5N1 virus, which according to the Geneva-based WHO is generally not harmful to humans. The H5N1 virus though remains primarily a virus of birds, but experts fright that once it starts transmitting from person to person, it would sweep the world, leaving millions more to die and triggering a devastating human pandemic.

H5N1, also known as A(H5N1), is a subtype of the Influenza A virus that is capable of causing illness in many animal species, including humans, while a bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for "highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1", is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as "avian influenza" or simply "bird flu", and is endemic in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia.

Ever since bird flu broke out and started spreading its notorious wings all over the globe, various measures have been taken by all the countries to protect their population. WHO, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in collaboration with United States are looking into minimizing the risk of spreading of this disease and taking steps to avoid this to turn into a pandemic on a global level.