2023-05-14 18:21:46
Seagulls are currently particularly affected.
Image: dpa
Seabirds are particularly badly affected by the bird flu virus this spring. Veterinarian Timm Harder explains why it is particularly important to examine foxes and seals.
In the poultry farms, the bird flu virus has caused fewer losses than experts had feared in the autumn. Only occasionally do farms have to be closed and stocks killed. Now the migratory birds are returning from their winter quarters, and epidemiologists fear that this will increase the pressure of infection. Timm Harder is a veterinarian and head of the reference center for avian influenza at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute on the island of Riems. He explains how the virus has developed in recent months, where he can give the all-clear and why it is so difficult to assess whether the virus can become dangerous for people.
Mr. Harder, is it true that birds fall dead from the sky because of bird flu – or is that an old wives’ tale?
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