European countries reporting new outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of the H5N8 subtype in poultry are France, Germany, Italy and Russia, according to reports sent by the national animal health agencies to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) over the last week.
For the first time, the H5N5 virus variant has been detected in domestic poultry in Croatia.
France confirms 63 new HPAI outbreaks
In France, the number of confirmed outbreaks of HPAI has risen by 63 over the past week to 465 since November 2016, reports the French agriculture ministry. The worst-affected departments are Landes and Gers in the southwest portion of the country.
Nine new outbreaks of HPAI caused by the H5N8 virus have been reported to the OIE by the ministry in the last week. Five of the outbreaks were in Landes, where the virus was detected following suspicious clinical signs and/or mortality in chickens or ducks, or depopulation of domestic waterfowl in areas where the disease situation is regarded as unstable. The other cases were in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, where the virus was detected in poultry before transportation to other areas. At least 9,000 birds died or were destroyed as a result of these outbreaks but no details are given regarding the number of birds affected in most of these outbreaks.
Intensive surveillance for HPAI in France has also revealed the presence of low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses. Latest reports sent to the OIE cover the H5N2 virus subtype found at four locations in Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Landes, and the H5N1 variant at a duck farm in Lot and Garonne.
New H5N8 outbreaks on poultry farms in Germany, Russia and Italy
The number of confirmed HPAI outbreaks caused by the H5N8 virus in Germany has increased by four over the last week to 86, according to the federal ministry of food and agriculture (BMEL). This includes 16 outbreaks at zoos and animal parks, a total unchanged from a week ago. There have been no further confirmed outbreaks in which the H5N5 virus has been detected, so this total for this variant remains at three.
BMEL reports there are currently 39 active HPAI outbreaks in the country – four fewer than last week – and the number of resolved outbreaks has increased by eight to 50.
Cloppenburg district in Lower Saxony is the location of three new H5N8 HPAI outbreaks reported by the German animal health agency to the OIE. All these new outbreaks involved fattening turkeys – a total of more than 32,000 birds.
The Russian veterinary authority has reported to the OIE a further two outbreaks of H5N8 HPAI in backyard flocks in the Moscow region. These led to the death or destruction of 28 poultry.
According to the Italian health authority and research organization for animal health and food safety (IZSVe), the H5N8 virus has been detected at a further location, bringing the country’s total outbreaks this season to 10. The farmer reported the mortality of five chickens in an aviary of around 200 birds of different species. Humane culling of the flock was started immediately.
OIE has also received a report of the H5N8 HPAI virus in a small backyard poultry flock in Romania.
Croatia reports H5N5 virus for the first time
The veterinary authority in Croatia has reported to OIE the first detection of the highly pathogenic H5N5 virus variant in domestic poultry.
There have been four confirmed outbreaks in small flocks in Krapina-Zagorje county in the north of the country. The first two were in neighboring poultry flocks near a pond regularly visited by wild ducks. At a further 15 holdings, 248 poultry were destroyed to prevent further spread of the disease, and two out of three further poultry flocks tested positive for the virus.
HPAI virus detected in wild birds
The highly pathogenic H5N8 virus has been detected in more wild birds in France, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom over the last week, according to reports received by the OIE from the respective national veterinary authorities.
