Bird flu in Rostock Zoo 18 birds killed

Avian Influenza: Another 18 birds killed in the Rostock Zoo

01/11/2015

After it was reported in recent days that all white storks in the Rostock Zoo were infected with the highly contagious bird flu virus H5N8 and were killed, the pathogen has now been detected in another bird. 18 more birds were killed.

18 more birds killed
Bad news from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: As the news agency dpa reports, in Rostock in another animal, the highly infectious avian influenza virus H5N8 was detected. The Ministry of Agriculture announced on Saturday in Schwerin that the Red Sickler - also called Red Ibis - as well as 17 other birds that were kept in this enclosure, then were killed. There were nine other Ibises and eight little egrets and little egrets. As reported in the last few days, twelve white storks had already been killed on Thursday in the Rostock Zoo, which were all infected with the bird flu virus H5N8. Even ducks and geese housed in the same stable were killed and the examination of all around 500 birds in the zoo was arranged.

Rostock Zoo remains closed
The zoo remains closed for the time being. The Minister of Agriculture of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Till Backhaus (SPD) asked for understanding: „We try to protect the sometimes rare species in the zoo so that the loss of biodiversity remains as low as possible. But it is also clear that we have to make further killings in further finds.“ It is still unclear how the virus got into the zoo. For the entire city of Rostock, the custody was proclaimed.

So far no case of a transfer to humans known
The virus subtype H5N8, which previously circulated only in East Asia, has appeared in several European countries since November. It is not yet clear whether the virus has come to Europe via wild birds or the feed and poultry trade. So far, no diseases have been reported by people who were exposed to H5N8. Other types of viruses, such as H7N9, have been shown to transmit to humans. Infected individuals experienced typical bird flu symptoms such as fever, cough and sore throat. In some cases, there are also complaints such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and nausea and vomiting. (Ad)