Rapid spread of H5N8 avian flu in Europra threatens poultry sector

European consumers are on high alert about a possible continent-wide bird flu epidemic after a wild duck tested positive for the H5N8 virus in northeast Germany, according to reports.

The U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) warned on Monday that a new avian influenza strain detected in Europe that is similar to strains reported to be circulating in 2014 in Asia poses a significant threat to the poultry sector, especially in low-resourced countries situated along the Black Sea and East Atlantic migratory routes of wild birds, according to Reuters.

Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. have confirmed the new avian influenza virus strain H5N8 on poultry farms, and German authorities have also found the virus in a wild bird.

Bird flu was detected on three other farms in and around Kamperveen, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the first outbreaks, the Dutch economic affairs ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The birds on all three farms will be destroyed and the farms disinfected, the ministry said, with tests being carried out to establish if the strain is the highly infectious H5N8 strain.

Earlier this year, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea reported outbreaks of H5N8 in poultry as well as findings in migratory birds and waterfowl.

Migrating birds are being investigated as a possible source for the European infections.

H5N8 has so far not been confirmed to infect people. However, it is highly pathogenic for domestic poultry, causing significant mortality in chickens and turkeys. The bird flu virus can also infect wild birds, which show little signs of illness.