MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Germany reports outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus

The virus killed 44 birds out of a flock of 69 in Bretzfeld, in the Baden-Wurttemberg region, the Paris-based OIE said

Germany has reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus in a backyard in the southwestern part of the country, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday.

The virus killed 44 birds out of a flock of 69 in Bretzfeld, in the Baden-Wurttemberg region, the Paris-based OIE said, citing a report from Germany's food and agriculture ministry.

“All poultry and captive birds have been culled and safely disposed of on Feb 7, 2020. No poultry, poultry products or captive birds have been dispatched,” it said in the report.

A case of H5N8 bird flu had been confirmed in a wild bird in the eastern German state of Brandenburg in January but no birds on farms were involved, the ministry had then said.