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24 February 2006
BERLIN – Bird flu spread to two more German states on Friday as authorities stepped up measures to stop the outbreak from reaching domestic poultry.
The new cases of the H5N1 strain were found in three wild ducks in the northern state of Schleswig Holstein and in Baden-Wuerttemberg in the south.
Authorities immediately set up exclusion zones in a three- kilometre radius around the areas were the dead birds were found. The transport of poultry and poultry products was banned for 21 days in the affected area of Schleswig Holstein.
Prior to Friday the outbreak had been restricted to the northern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, where 110 bird flu deaths had been reported, mostly on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen.
The virus, which has claimed the lives of at least 90 people since it was first detected in South-East Asia in mid-2003, is thought to have been brought to Europe by migrating birds.
Health and agriculture officials have warned the public not to touch any dead animals because of the risk of infection to humans.
DPA
Subject: German news