# 1093
The outbreak of H5N1 in Germany that led to the culling of 160,000 geese over the weekend is now suspected to have been introduced to this farm via contaminated straw.
Contaminated straw believed at fault in German H5N1 outbreak
The Associated Press
BERLIN: Straw contaminated with the H5N1 strain of bird flu was the likely source of an outbreak of the disease at a poultry farm in southern Germany that resulted in 160,000 birds being slaughtered, an official said Monday.
Ottmar Fick, the chief veterinarian in the Erlangen district of northern Bavaria, said it remained unclear how the straw, which was stored on the farm, became infected, although wild birds were a possible source.
Two experts from a federal animal disease lab were at the site, he said.
The virus was detected in ducklings at the farm Friday, and the federal lab confirmed the presence of the lethal H5N1 strain on Saturday.
Authorities ordered the slaughter of all 160,000 birds on the farm as a precaution — a process Fick said was completed Sunday night. A three-kilometer (1.85-mile) exclusion zone is in place around the farm.
