Germany has confirmed that a wild duck has been found to be contaminated with the highly pathogenic H5N1-type of bird flu virus. This is the first time this year that the virus has been confirmed in Europe, but authorities have stressed that the discovery should pose no immediate health threat, nor put at risk the country’s poultry sector. No further cases have been reported, and that there are no indications that the virus is likely to spread to either the wild bird population or poultry stocks. The last outbreak in poultry of H5N1 in the EU was detected in October 2008 in the east German state of Saxony.