In Portugal, a new case of bird flu was recorded in a wild bird in Portimão, district of Faro, bringing the number of outbreaks confirmed this year to 29, according to data from DGAV
Bird flu is spreading “very quickly” in Germany, the country’s authorities warned on Friday, who are concerned about both livestock and wild birds, which are particularly affected during the period of great migration.
In the last two weeks, there has been a “very rapid increase in infections” caused by the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAG) virus, said Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer during a press conference on the subject.
The main priority, he said, is now “to prevent the spread of the virus, protect animals and avoid damage to agriculture and the food industry.”
The alert also concerns wild birds, with cranes, “particularly affected for the first time”, highlighted the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, responsible for animal health.
Due to the migrations of cranes and other wild birds, this institute predicts a “further, possibly widespread, spread of avian influenza infections in the near future”.
In Linum, near Berlin, volunteers, dressed in coveralls and white masks, collected dozens of dead common cranes and transported them in a large backhoe, according to a France Presse photographer.
By Thursday night, around 1,000 dead common cranes had already been collected, out of a total of 7,000 that currently rest in this “large resting place on the migratory route”, Norbert Schneeweiss, director of the local species protection center, told France Presse.
Contacted by France Presse, Helge May, spokesperson for the environmental association Nabu, estimates that the total number of 240,000 animals slaughtered, as reported by several German media outlets, “has probably already been exceeded”.
On Thursday, 15,000 animals had to be slaughtered on a farm in Baden-Württemberg.
Although the risk to the human population is low, authorities recommend avoiding any contact with sick or dead animals, as transmission of the virus to people remains possible.
According to a bulletin from the French animal health epidemiological surveillance platform ESA, dated Tuesday, cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been detected in 22 European countries since August.
Bird flu is detected again in Portimão
Bird flu was once again detected in a wild bird in Portimão, district of Faro, increasing the number of outbreaks confirmed this year to 29, according to data from DGAV.
The virus, of the H5N1 subtype, was detected in a white stork, according to the General Directorate of Food and Veterinary (DGAV).
On July 18, an outbreak had already been confirmed in Portimão, in a yellow-legged gull. The total number of outbreaks detected this year has now risen to 29. At the beginning of the month, an outbreak had been confirmed in Aveiro and another in Madeira.
Transmission of the virus to humans occurs rarely, with sporadic cases having been reported around the world. However, when it occurs, the infection can lead to a serious clinical condition.
DGAV has been asking all bird keepers to comply with biosecurity measures and good production practices, avoiding contact between domestic and wild birds.
Any suspicion of bird flu infection must be reported to DGAV, a central service of direct State administration, with administrative autonomy.
