According to a German expert, the spread of bird flu has “taken on a whole new quality” this year. Timm Harder, head of the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) near Greifswald, spoke of a massive infection incidence not only in the German part of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, but also in the British Isles and in Scandinavia to Iceland.
“All of North America is also being flooded by this virus,” he said. One could speak of a real wild bird pandemic.
Big wave of summer
For the North Sea alone, the vet assumes that tens of thousands of birds have become victims of the H5N1 virus. A large summer wave mainly affected seabirds
breed in colonies.
In Germany, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony were particularly affected in the summer. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on the other hand, there was less evidence recently than in the spring.
The only measure left is to collect infected carcasses as soon as possible. “The virus can certainly no longer be contained in this way,” said Harder.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
