Second test shows no H5N1 in German farm bird

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A second test on a German farm bird shows it did not have the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, German officials said on Thursday.

A duck on a farm on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen had initially tested positive for the disease but a second test by Germany’s national animal diseases institute was negative, the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern said.

A spokeswoman for the state said it was significant that the second test had proved negative but a third, conclusive test was still awaited.

German Farm Minister Horst Seehofer criticised the handling of Thursday’s case, saying on German radio that authorities should only announce bird flu cases after full conclusive testing had taken place.

The duck was from a farm with 106 other birds that had not been scheduled for precautionary culling on the island.

The deadly H5N1 strain, which has killed more than 90 people and millions of birds in Asia, Africa and Europe, has recently spread to the European Union.

Some 110 wild birds, seven more than on Wednesday, have now tested positive for bird flu since the disease first reached Germany on February 14, mostly on Ruegen. Migrating swans accounted for most of the cases.

No EU farm birds have yet tested positive for the disease but animal and human health experts, including at the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say it is almost inevitable that the virus will spread from wild birds to poultry flocks.

H5N1 is endemic in birds across parts of Asia.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus said on local radio the farmer involved in the case had acted responsibly and reported the sick bird immediately.

Other animals on the farm are now being slaughtered as a preventive measure.

The district council in Ruegen had been criticised for slow action in responding to the disease before it handed responsibility to state and federal authorities on Sunday night. The council had left dead birds uncollected on beaches for several days.

The German army currently has 250 soldiers on Ruegen largely collecting dead birds.

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