Bird flu virus now discovered in seagulls in Berlin

As of Friday, H5N8 has been detected in Berlin and Brandenburg among the German states. The virus was detected in two birds in a couple districts of Germany’s capital and has been detected in several German states and European countries over the past couple of weeks.

A dead seagull in Brandenburg was found to have bird flu and there is unconfirmed suspicion that swans have been infected as well. In Brandenburg, a restricted area was set up around the location where the seagull was found. Officials are monitoring the area for 15 days and are not allowing ducks, geese, and chickens to leave the area for 21 days.

Dogs and cats are to be prevented from roaming and existing poultry stocks are being checked. Checks are not only being performed for commercial farmers, but also hobby poultry owners. On Sunday, new rules were made requiring dogs to be kept on leashes and restricting the movement of cats in order to prevent the spread of the contagious virus.

Hopefully this quarantine is successful in preventing the further spread of the H5N8 virus.

Read story here: http://www.thelocal.de/20161125/bird-flu-virus-now-discovered-in-seagulls-in-berlin

Emily Nguyen