Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Germany confirms bird flu, Europe on watch
On Wednesday February 16, 2006 Germany confirmed cases of avian influenza in dead swans found on the German island of Ruegen. Germany is now in an all-out offensive to combat the disease. Especially since neighboring countries Austria and Hungary have confirmed their own bird flu cases.
This has prompted local officials in Denmark, Norway and Sweden to order poultry indoors, as Poland and Denmark conducted tests on dead swans found on their Baltic Sea coasts and Russia confirmed another avian influenza case within its borders.
While the virus on Ruegen has not been confirmed by the European Union laboratory near London, laboratories in Germany that performed tests on the samples taken from the dead birds, said they were convinced the birds were carrying the deadly H5N1 avian influenza strain.
‘Personally as experts, we have no doubt about it whatever,’ said Reinhard Kurth, president of Germany’s top medical research facility.