March 13, 2006

Bird flu cases in German state of Bavaria rise to 10

Bird flu has spread to northern Bavaria, raising the number of cases of the virus in Bavaria to 10, the rural district office said Friday.

Two dead swans infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus were found in the county of Erlangen-Hoechstadt in the towns of Gremsdorf and Hoechstadt an der Aisch on Monday and Thursday, the office said.

The swans tested positive for the virus at the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute in Riems, Germany.

A 10-kilometre radius around each of the locations where the swans were found has been blocked off for observation, the office said.

Neighbouring Poland confirmed its fourth case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in a dead swan found in the town of Kostrzyn near the border with Germany, officials said Sunday.

The swan had already tested positive for the H5 virus subtype, and further tests showed it had H5N1, said Tadeusz Wijaszka, head of the laboratory in Pulawy, central Poland.