German tests confirm H5N1 in 10 more birds

German tests confirmed that 10 more wild birds found dead on a northern island had the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the federal animal health institute said today.

They followed three previously confirmed cases.

In expanded testing of wild birds found on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, three swans, six whooper swans and a goose tested positive for H5N1, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute said.

France, meanwhile, said a duck found dead in the south-east tested positive for an H5 subtype of bird flu.

Further tests were being conducted to determine the exact strain, France’s Agriculture Ministry said today.

In Hungary, chief veterinarian Miklos Suth said Hungarian lab tests on three swans found dead earlier this month came back positive for H5N1.

Samples were sent to the EU reference lab in Britain for confirmation, he said today.

Germany’s Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer urged state governments to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

“We must expect that this will expand to other geographical areas,” he said at a news conference.

Authorities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state have come under sharp criticism for failing to immediately cordon off parts of Ruegen where two swans and a hawk – Germany’s first cases of H5N1 – were found to be infected earlier this week.

Seehofer is to travel to Brussels early next week to discuss ways to stem the spread of the disease within the European Union, where H5N1 outbreaks have been confirmed in Austria, Greece, Italy and Slovenia.

“Bird flu can only be fought on an international level,” he said.

One of the latest birds to test positive for H5N1 carried a ring that was attached last year in Latvia, the institute said.

Germany has recorded no human cases of bird flu, but the virus has killed 91 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation. Most victims were infected after handling sick birds. But scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form easily passed between humans and spark a human flu pandemic.

Today, domestic birds in Germany were required kept indoors to prevent contact with migrating wild fowl.

Seehofer urged state officials to be rigorous in enforcing the measures and advised Germans to avoid contact with wild birds.