Germany has recorded its highest number of bird flu cases in three years, and the Friedrich Loeffler Institute for Animal Diseases (FLI) does not expect the spread of the disease to decrease anytime soon, Reuters reports.
The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza is worrying European governments and poultry farmers, as it has a devastating effect on flocks, prompts trade restrictions and poses the risk of a new pandemic.
This fall, the virus has been detected on 122 farms and 1,125 cases of infection in wild birds have been detected. This is more than double the figures for 2024, when 46 outbreaks were detected on farms throughout the year.
Bird flu is carried by migrating wild birds, and in Western Europe outbreaks begin in early autumn, continue to rise in the following months, and peak in spring.
More than a million poultry have been culled in Germany so far.
The spread of bird flu has also increased in other European countries, but Germany has been hit hardest by the disease. The FLI has indicated that the country has seen a sharp increase in cases in recent weeks.
The FLI assessment states that the number of sick wild birds has increased significantly, and an unusually high number of cranes have fallen ill, whose autumn migration has expanded the spread of the disease. The institute assesses the current risk level as high, and has announced that the situation is not expected to normalize in the near future, as bird migration cannot be controlled.
However, German analysts are not yet reporting a significant increase in the price of eggs or meat, and estimate that there are around 200 million poultry in the country in total.
While Germany has not imposed nationwide restrictions, some local federal state authorities have introduced safety measures. In certain regions, the conditions for protecting cranes have been relaxed, allowing them to be removed in high-risk areas to limit the spread of the virus.
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