“This is the virus’s first hotspot and that has to be stamped out immediately,” veterinarian Holger Vogel said.
Turkeys in Heinrichswalde, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, were found to have the highly pathogenic influenza virus, H5N8, which was previously only found in Asia.
The first symptoms were spotted over the weekend, but the virus was confirmed after avian flu experts at a state veterinary research organization, the FLI, carried out tests.
The FLI will supervise the birds' slaughter. The animals are to be gassed, loaded into sealed vehicles and disposed of.
Examinations on 1,000 animals were conducted in a three-kilometre restricted area, while a ten-kilometre “observation area” was also established. Poultry within a 50-kilometre radius – the area of which reaches up to the border with Poland – may no longer be kept outside their pens.
There have been no reports of people being infected with the virus, according to the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania agricultural ministry.
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