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Germany has informed the European Commission of an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu, the EU's first case of the lethal strain of the contagious disease in poultry this year.

The outbreak "was found in a wild duck shot during a hunt near the town of Starnberg in the German state of Bavaria," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement.

The district office in Starnberg, just southwest of Munich, said in a statement the duck was shot on January 10th and tested as part of an EU-wide monitoring programme. None of the 39 birds shot on the hunt showed signs of illness.

Experts said the positive test was not surprising as wild birds are a natural 'virus reservoir', the Starnberg district office added.

"Individual positive findings in the framework of the monitoring of wild birds are, furthermore, to be expected," the office said.

"There are no indications that during the last eight weeks a highly pathogenic virus has, directly or indirectly via a wild bird, been introduced into a poultry stock, or carried on from there," the district office added.

"There are so far no indications of the virus spreading in the wild bird population," the office said.

The Starnberg authorities had not made any area off-limits or set up a monitoring area following the positive test.

"On basis of the favourable result of a risk assessment, Germany may refrain from the establishment of a control area and a surrounding monitoring area around a positive finding," the European Commission said in its statement.