Overview
- Regional lab tests detected H5 in a Hungen (Gießen district) broiler flock on January 18, prompting the cull of about 19,000 birds and the setup of 3‑km protection and 10‑km surveillance zones with movement curbs and renewed indoor‑keeping.
- Friedrich‑Loeffler‑Institut confirmation of the Hungen case is pending, and local authorities say the farm reported unusual mortality quickly and followed biosecurity protocols.
- Multiple Hesse areas have recently ended mandatory indoor‑keeping, including Waldeck‑Frankenberg, Offenbach, Wiesbaden, Kassel city and district, Frankfurt, and others, citing low recent wild‑bird positives and the end of peak migration.
- Germany’s outbreak has cost millions of poultry, with more than 500,000 losses in Saxony, and experts say vaccination can cut outbreaks but will not eliminate culling during incidents.
- EU discussions are underway on simplifying surveillance of vaccinated flocks after France’s program showed fewer outbreaks; in the meantime, Hesse’s farm group urges strict hygiene, rapid reporting, and caution as tests proceed on dead wild birds in Freising.