Avian flu in Lower Saxony

Bird flu virus detected on a poultry farm in Aurich

(23.07.2011)

On a poultry farm in Aurich, Lower Saxony, the avian influenza virus of the avian influenza A virus of subtype H7N7 was detected, reports the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture in Hanover. The approximately 190 animals of the enterprise were already killed, a danger for humans does not exist, so the Ministry further.

The Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (Federal Research Center for Animal Health) has detected the low-pathogenic avian influenza virus of strain H7N7 in the laying hens in Aurich. The animals on the farm in the Sandhorst district have already been killed and the authorities have set up a 1,000-meter restricted zone around the farm. According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture, the pathogens were apparently brought in with bought poultry from North Rhine-Westphalia. Here in the district of Gütersloh several outbreaks of bird flu of the same subtype have been recorded in recent months. As a result, up to 70,000 birds such as geese, chickens and ducks had to be culled. Now the pathogens have apparently reached Niedersachsen via the trade routes.

Restricted area established because of bird flu detection
According to information from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture, the poultry farm in Aurich had purchased animals from one of the affected farms in North Rhine-Westphalia, which carried the pathogens into the farm's holdings. There are no signs of further spread through the poultry farm as the farm does not sell poultry, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said. The stock is already „vacated“ and a corresponding restricted area, the ministry said in a statement on Friday. The affected farm and all poultry farms within a radius of 1,000 meters are therefore closed for the time being. A total of four other farms may not deliver poultry from their farm, a fifth poultry farm is under observation, said a spokesman for the district of Aurich. The closure of poultry farms will be lifted only when the investigations 21 days after cleaning and disinfection of the outbreak operation no longer provable pathogens, said the spokesman for the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture. All the farmers in the region were informed about the occurrence of avian flu, according to the ministry.

Low pathogenic avian influenza viruses pose no threat to humans
For humans, the low pathogenic („little disease-causing“) Pathogens of the subtype H7N7 anyway no threat, the official statement. Even in poultry, the health consequences of H7N7 infection are relatively low, but there is a risk that these viruses mutate to the highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus subtype H 7, the trigger of avian influenza. Therefore, for security reasons, all stocks that have come into contact with the virus are killed immediately, said the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture. Recently, the non-dangerous bird flu virus in Lower Saxony occurred in 2009, the ministry said. The current find is directly related to the bird flu certificates in North Rhine-Westphalia, where since the end of May on several farms the pathogens were discovered. Through the commercial activity, the viruses were then introduced into various poultry stocks across Germany, explained the Ministry spokesman. These contact stocks were examined immediately after becoming known, and in individual farms in Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saxony, further infections with the avian flu virus were detected. The same fate has now overtaken the poultry farm in the district of Aurich. (Fp)

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Again bird flu in the district Gütersloh

Picture credits: schemmi