EU confirms H5N1 bird flu in Germany

[tocqueville]

42 minutes ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Dead swans found on a German island were infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 form of bird flu, the latest EU country to be afflicted, the European Commission said.

German authorities have launched precautionary measures, including setting up a 10-kilometre (six-mile) surveillance zone around the spot where the dead swans were found on the island of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea.

A tighter three-kilometre protection area will also be set up, said the European Union's executive.

"In the protection zone, poultry must be kept indoors, movement of poultry is banned except directly to the slaughterhouse, and the dispatch of meat outside the zone is forbidden except under very limited conditions

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060215/wl_afp/healthflugermanyeu_060215102531

[Selatius]

1. It seems we've lost the ability to contain it to East Asia

If true, it will be a matter of time before it reaches Africa and South America, and then it will be coming into North America. It would mean greater likelihood of human exposure to the virus, and the longer the virus is allowed to exist in the environment, the greater the chance it will develop a mutation that will allow it to easily jump into humans.

[TheWatcher]

2. Self Delete

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

3. It's already in Africa.

Nigeria, to be exact. Not good.

[FearofFutility]

4. This is very bad news

Time to stop eating chicken. What concerns me even more is that it's in Iraq. They'll never be able to contain it there given the environment.