A highly contagious and deadly form of avian influenza is spreading rapidly in Europe, putting the poultry industry on alert with previous outbreaks in mind that saw tens of millions of birds culled and significant economic losses.
The disease, commonly called bird flu, has been found in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and, for the first time this week in Croatia, Slovenia and Poland, after severely hitting Russia, Kazakhstan and Israel.
Since the beginning of August, 130 cases or outbreaks of avian influenza have been detected in wildlife or in farms in Europe, particularly on the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, including three outbreaks in farms Germans. At the same time, the confinement of all professional farms was decided in the Netherlands following the detection of an outbreak in a farm of laying hens. In Italy, six outbreaks have been detected in broiler turkey farms in the Verona region since October 19.
What's the risk to domestic birds?
The vast majority of cases are in migrating wild birds but outbreaks have been reported on farms, leading to the death or culling of at least 1.6 million chickens and ducks so far around the region.
“The risk of a transfer in poultry farms and more cases among wild birds is higher than in the past two years because of the massive appearance of various bird flu viruses in Europe,” said a spokeswoman for the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute, Germany’s federal animal disease research agency.
The main strain found this year in Europe is H5N8, which decimated flocks in 2016/17 when the region recorded its largest outbreak in poultry and wild birds, but there were also reports of H5N5 and H5N1.
Bird flu outbreaks like other animal diseases often prompt importing countries to impose trade restrictions.That will add to coronavirus-related lockdowns threatening to curb year-end holiday sales.
However, importing countries’ approach to limit restrictions to regions affected by the virus should help soften the impact. That will add to coronavirus-related lockdowns threatening to curb year-end holiday sales.
The 2016/2017 epidemic of HPAI was the largest recorded outbreak to date in the EU in terms of the number of poultry outbreaks, geographical spread and number of dead wild birds. There is no evidence to suggest that avian influenza can be transmitted to humans through the consumption of contaminated poultry products.
In the UK, in the coming months farmers and birds owners are asked to look after their animals, preventing contact with wild birds and exercising extra hygiene measures in the places where the birds are kept. Cases of asymptomatic birds still positive to the virus are possible.
