Bird flu in Rostock Zoo All storks dead

Bird flu in the Rostock Zoo: All storks dead

01/10/2015

All twelve white storks in the Rostock Zoo were infected with the bird flu virus H5N8. Three died, the rest were killed as a precaution. All other bird species of the zoo are now to be examined for the pathogen.

All twelve white storks infected
The twelve white storks of the Rostock zoo have all been infected with the bird flu virus H5N8. This is the result of initial analyzes, as reported by the Ministry of Agriculture in Schwerin, according to a report by the news agency dpa. Now all birds of the zoo (around 500) are to be examined for the pathogen. According to reports, three storks had died in the past few days and nine had been killed as a precaution, as were 23 ducks housed in the same stable.

Storks are more susceptible to the influenza virus
According to the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute for the Health of farm animals storks are more susceptible to the influenza virus than ducks and geese. „These waterfowl form the natural reservoir for the virus, they have dealt with it for millennia“, explained spokeswoman Elke Reinking on the Baltic island Riems. Unlike henbirds, waterfowl showed no signs of disease despite infection. This is also the case with poultry.

Birds have become infected because of spatial proximity
According to Reinking, the storks were certainly also infected because of the proximity. However, captive birds are not generally more susceptible to viruses than they are in the wild. It is still unknown how H5N8 affects songbirds. The Rostock Zoo was closed on Friday because of bird flu. „There is no new state of affairs, but first we want to wait for the results of the remaining samples and play it safe“, zoo director Udo Nagel explained.

Other pathogens have been dangerous in the past
The virus subtype H5N8, which had already been detected in poultry farms in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony in November and December, was until recently only found in Asia. In recent years, pathogens such as H7N9 or H5N1 have proven particularly dangerous. In infected people, symptoms of avian influenza often became apparent only after weeks, which at first tend to be similar to those of conventional flu. It comes to complaints such as fever, cough, sore throat and in some cases breathlessness. In rare cases, symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and nausea and vomiting occur. (Ad)