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Volume 32, Number 5—May 2026
Dispatch
Serologic Surveillance of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus Subtype H5 in Wildlife, Northeast Germany, 2023–2025
, Gereon Schares, and Kerstin Wernike
Table
Overview of species sampled for serologic and molecular screening for high pathogenicity avian influenza subtype H5 antibodies, grouped according to feeding behavior, northeast Germany, December 2023–February 2025*
| Group and species | Serologic screening |
Molecular screening |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total no. animals tested | No. IAV antibody– positive | IAV antibody–positive, % (95% CI) |
No. H5 antibody–positive | H5 antibody–positive, % (95% CI) |
Total no. animals tested† |
No. IAV RNA–positive | ||
| Carnivores (group I) | 606‡ | 120 | 19.8 (16.7–23.2) | 100§ | 16.5 (13.6–19.7) | 644 | 0 | |
| (Red) fox (Vulpes vulpes) | 354 | 73 | 20.6 (16.5–25.2) | 58 | 16.4 (12.7–20.7) | 376 | 0 | |
| Raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) | 179 | 29 | 16.2 (11.1–22.4) | 27 | 15.1 (10.2–21.2) | 194 | 0 | |
| Raccoon (Procyon lotor) | 64 | 17 | 26.6 (16.3–39.1) | 14 | 21.9 (12.5–34.0) | 65 | 0 | |
| European badger (Meles meles) | 8 | 1 | 12.5 (0.3–52.7) | 1 | 12.5 (0.3–52.7) | 8 | 0 | |
| European pine marten (Martes martes) |
1 |
0 |
0 (0.0–97.5) |
NT |
NT |
1 |
0 |
|
| Omnivores, wild boar (Sus scrofa) (group II) |
115 |
6 |
5.2 (1.9–11.0) |
4 |
3.5 (0.9NT8.7) |
114 |
0 |
|
| Herbivores (group III) | 228 | 0 | 0 (0.0–1.6) | NT | NT | 222 | 0 | |
| European fallow deer (Dama dama) | 106 | 0 | 0 (0.0–3.4) | NT | NT | 106 | 0 | |
| Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) | 91 | 0 | 0 (0.0–4.0) | NT | NT | 91 | 0 | |
| Red deer (Cervus elaphus) | 23 | 0 | 0 (0.0–14.8) | NT | NT | 23 | 0 | |
| Mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon) | 7 | 0 | 0 (0.0–40.9) | NT | NT | 1 | 0 | |
| Unknown | 1 | 0 | 0 (0.0–97.5) | NT | NT | 1 | 0 | |
*Results refer to screenings on generic antibodies against IAV or specific for subtype H5 on the basis of 2 subsequent multispecies ELISA tests. Quantitative reverse transcription real-time PCR results shown for swab or organ tissue samples tested for influenza A virus RNA. IAV, influenza A virus; NT, not tested. †Includes 1 omnivore and 6 herbivores with blood sample only and no swab or organ tissue sample for molecular analyses. ‡Includes 38 animals with swab or organ tissue sample only and no blood sample for serologic analyses. §Includes 6 IAV antibody–positive samples not tested for H5 antibody because of limited sample volume.