March 3, 2006

Germany extends measures against bird flu

German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer has ordered an extension of cautionary measures such as keeping dogs on leashes and cats indoors in zones where flu-infected birds have been discovered.

Previously such restrictions had been ordered by local officials on a case-by-case basis.

Seehofer said Germany had recorded 140 bird flu cases in wild birds, but that no infected domestic fowl had been found.

Lab tests have confirmed that a cat found dead on a Baltic Sea island died of a highly pathogenic variety of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the German laboratory said earlier Thursday.

The strain was genetically identical to that found in a dead swan on the island of Ruegen when bird flu was first confirmed in Germany in mid-February, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute said.