Europe prepares for bird flu outbreak

[Snowy Owl]

Europe prepares for bird flu outbreak
http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=431310&lng=1
05/07 18:44 CET​

Several countries across Europe have begun re-introducing measures to deal a bird-flu outbreak.​

It comes after officials in France and Germany discovered more wild birds that have died of the lethal H5N1 strain.​

Berlin has now decided to raise its threat levels after confirming an outbreak in the eastern state of Thuringia.

The Netherlands is also restricting its commercial poultry to confined areas but it has refused to reveal exactly where the virus was found.

Meanwhile, Europe's biggest poultry producer, France, has confirmed its first cases in more than a year. The disease was identified in three swans found dead in Moselle in the east of the country.

Michel Barnier, France's agriculture and fishing minister, says it means birds and poultry will now either have to be locked up or protected by nets to avoid all contact with wild birds.

Last year, 13 EU states confirmed incidents of bird flu. In most cases they involved wild birds such as swans.