BERLIN, July 5 (Xinhua) -- The German authorities on Thursday raised the alert for bird flu from "moderate" to "high" after 38 more wild birds were tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain in eastern Germany.

    The birds were among the 100 found dead on an artificial lane between the states of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, German news agency dpa reported.

    German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer has instructed the country's states not to ease their protective measures.

Thuringia state officials wearing a protective suit search, for dead wild birds along the shore of Stausee in Kelbra July 5, 2007. Germany is raising its assessment of the risk of bird flu after officials in France and Germany discovered more birds which had died of the H5N1 virus, the country's top state veterinary laboratory said on Thursday. She cited the news from Wednesday that more wild birds had tested positive for the lethal strain of H5N1 bird flu in Germany -- this time in the eastern state of Thuringia.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

 

    Germany has ordered farmers to keep poultry indoors as bird flu has been discovered in a total of four German states--Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony- Anhalt.

    Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus could transmute into deadly human influenza that could kill millions.

    Bird flu has also been found in Hungary, Britain, the Czech Republic, and most recently France this year.

    According to the World Health Organization, the H5N1 virus has globally killed nearly 200 people out of more than 300 cases since 2003.