Neurotropic Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Red Foxes, Northern Germany

Abstract

In a 1-year survey of wild terrestrial predators in northern Germany, we found that 5 of 110 foxes were infected with contemporary avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses, forming a temporal cluster during January‒March 2023. Encephalitis and strong cerebral virus replication but only sporadic mammalian-adaptive viral polymerase basic 2 protein E627K mutations were seen.