German state of Lower Saxony says confirms case of bird flu

[December 17, 2014]  BERLIN (Reuters) - German authorities have confirmed a case of the H5N8 strain of bird flu at a Turkey farm in the north western state of Lower Saxony, a spokesman for the state's agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.

The strain is highly contagious among birds but has never been detected in humans.

The first H5N8 case in Germany was confirmed on Nov. 4 on a poultry farm in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A second was found in a wild bird on Nov. 22.

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; editing by Erik Kirschbaum)

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