HAMBURG, Feb 15 Reuters report that a case of H5N1 bird flu had been discovered during initial tests on a poultry farm in the eastern state of Brandenburg, eastern Germany.

The case was discovered in a duck farm, which was carrying out its own tests, the Brandenburg state agriculture ministry said on Friday.


The farm has been sealed off and its poultry will be culled, the statement said.

The cause is unknown and an investigation has started.

The World Health Organization report that H5N1 avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds that can be spread to people, but is difficult to transmit from person to person. Almost all people with H5N1 infection have had close contact with infected birds or H5N1-contaminated environments. When people do become infected, the mortality rate is about 60%.

On Wednesday a woman in southwestern China died of bird flu, state media said, a rare case in the country of a fatality from the H5N1 virus since a major outbreak a decade ago. The woman and another patient, a 31-year-old man, were both residents of Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou Province. They developed symptoms on February 2 and 3, respectively. Both tested positive for the H5N1 virus on Sunday, the health ministry said.

Epidemic control experts have not found any indication that the patients had close contact with birds, nor have they found any epidemiological connection between the two cases.