08 January 2015
The avian influenza virus H5N8 has been found in wild birds in Germany. According to German media Spiegel Online, the city administration Rostock reported that a white stork from Rostock Zoo in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was detected with highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8. Meanwhile, two wild ducks infected with the H5N8 in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt have been shot. The H5N8 virus was discovered for the first time in November on a poultry farm in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Germany, then later in Lower Saxony.