H5N6 confirmed in Vechta
Dead white stork was infected with bird flu
Peter Linkert
The white stork found dead in Vechta was infected with high pathogenic avian flu.
Image: Boris Roessler / dpa
The animal had been found dead in early April. Now it is obvious: The stork was infected with the high pathogenic virus H5N6. How does the district of Vechta react to the results of the investigation?
Borringhausen. In a white stork found by conservationists in the Borringhausen Moor near Damme on 7th April, a study commissioned by the district of Vechta has detected the high pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N6. This finding was reported by the Food and Veterinary Institute Hannover to the district administration on Saturday evening, 28th April. However, the establishment of restricted or monitoring areas is not necessary, according to a risk assessment by the Veterinary Office of Vechta County. The risk of virus introduction into poultry is low.
Since the stork was in the immediate vicinity of a wind turbine, initially a "traumatic effect" was suspected by the plant as the cause of death. A morbid event that would have forced to an immediate animal diagnostics, was not obvious according to district administration. The veterinary office had passed on the stork to the veterinary institute Hannover, where routinely investigations on bird flu viruses are being carried out.
A possible spread of the pathogen would have already made itself found by clinical signs in other poultry flocks. According to estimates of the veterinary office, the stork stayed to breed in the moor. Since the flight circumference from the nesting site was a maximum of two to three kilometers, it was unlikely that the animal had come near poultry houses. However, within a radius of three kilometers of the site is a commercial poultry farming. The district has already told the operator to increase attention. Conspicuousness in the local stock did not exist so far.
The H5N6 virus has been detected in Europe since autumn 2017, with no major epidemic outbreaks so far. According to the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, isolated H5N6 infections continue to be found in wild birds. Therefore, occasional evidence of the pathogen should be expected at any time. The district administration therefore calls on all poultry farmers to continue the disease-hygiene precautionary measures at a high level.
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