HAMBURG (Reuters) – An outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu has been found on another farm in north Germany, authorities said on Wednesday.
The disease was confirmed on a farm with about 39,000 ducks in Cloppenburg in the state of Lower Saxony, the state ministry of agriculture said. The birds will be slaughtered.
Bird flu, most often carried from one country to the other by migrating wild birds, has been spreading rapidly in Europe, raising concern in the poultry industry after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds and international trade restrictions.
Germany has reported several outbreaks.
Poland has reported outbreaks at poultry farms with flocks totalling nearly 650,000 birds, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said.
The French government put the entire country on high alert for bird flu, extending a requirement to keep all poultry flocks indoors.
(Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by David Goodman)