Tests have confirmed that dead birds found at a poultry farm in southern Germany were indeed infected with bird flu.
According to a spokeswoman for Bavaria’s environment ministry, dead ducks from the farm in Wachenroth in Bavaria’s Erlangen-Hoechstadt area had tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus.
More than 400 birds died over a brief period of time on the Bavarian farm. As a precaution, the farm has been sealed off and some 160,000 birds have been culled, and a nearly 2-mile protection zone has been placed around the farm while officials investigate the outbreak.
A string of bird flu infections were also registered in Germany last year. The country also identified several cases of the deadly H5N1 strain in wild birds in Bavaria in June.