Europe on alert for avian influenza virus

Animal health authorities and the poultry sector across Europe are on high alert for avian influenza (AI) following the detection of the virus in wild birds across the region, and a confirmed outbreak in poultry in Hungary.

Andrea Gantz
Andrea Gantz

Animal health authorities and the poultry sector across Europe are on alert for avian influenza (AI) following the detection of the virus in wild birds across the region, and a confirmed outbreak in poultry in Hungary. A warning to be vigilant about the virus has been issued by the European Commission, which has called for increased biosecurity on poultry farms.

Concerns over highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) are not confined to Europe. Veterinary authorities in India, Nigeria and Algeria have reported new outbreaks HPAI in domestic poultry or wild birds in recent weeks.

Call for vigilance in Europe

Higher rates of detection of AI viruses are not surprising at this time of year as migrating wild birds return to Europe for the winter season. The widespread geographical distribution and number of birds affected within a short time-period are, however, unusual.

According to reports received by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) from national animal health authorities, the H5N8 variant of the HPAI virus was first confirmed in a single wild bird in Hungary in the last week of October, and this was followed in close succession by similar reports from Poland, Germany, Croatia, Austria and Switzerland, which confirmed the presence of the virus in wild birds that had been found dead in or near lakes and other bodies of water. Tufted ducks appear to be particularly susceptible to the disease.

Within days of the dead swan being found in Hungary, there was confirmation of an outbreak among 16-week-old fattening turkeys at a farm in Tótkomlós in Békés county. Of the flock of more than 10,000 birds, 2,374 died and more than 7,800 have been destroyed. It was confirmed that the virus, of Asian origin, was the same as the one found in the dead swan.

Low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) has been detected in the Netherlands. Mallard ducks reared for shooting at a farm in Deurne in the province of North Brabant tested positive for the H5N2 subtype of the virus. They showed no clinical signs of the disease but all 17,000 birds have been destroyed. Birds at three other premises within a one-kilometer radius are being screened for the disease.

As a precaution against the spread of AI, poultry farmers in the Netherlands have been advised to keep their birds inside, reports Dutch News. Other control measures strongly suggested are tighter biosecurity and keeping farm visitors to a minimum. The advice, from economic affairs’ junior minister, Martijn van Dam, came as officials were checking several dead ducks near Monninkendam in North Holland province.

In Germany, in addition to confirmed cases of HPAI in 60 wild birds at Lake Plöner in the northern land of Schleswig-Holstein reported to OIE, the H5N8 virus has also been detected in the states of Baden Wurttemberg and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

Asia: India confirms HPAI outbreaks in poultry

Local media reported AI outbreaks across several states in India during October. Official reports to the OIE confirm that the H5N8 subtype of the HPAI virus was detected in these cases. First to be confirmed were two outbreaks in the Alappuzha district in the southern state of Kerala, affecting a total of almost 158,000 poultry. Within days, there were further outbreaks in northern India – in a small village flock in Punjab and at a tourist complex in Haryana.

Following reports of HPAI in Bhutan, Laos, Indonesia and Taiwan in recent weeks, there have been no confirmed new cases so far this month.

Africa: Mass wild bird mortality in Algeria

Algeria has reported its first ever cases of AI to the OIE. The veterinary authority has confirmed the deaths of 1,300 migratory birds of more than 20 different species found dead at the El Menia wetland in Sabkhat el Malah in central Algeria. The cause of death has been identified as the H7N1 subtype of HPAI.

Nigeria has been battling H5N1 HPAI for nearly two years. After a period of freedom from AI, the disease was confirmed in a flock of 2,000 laying hens at Ikwerre in Rivers state in the south of the country in early November.

There have been no new confirmed cases of HPAI in poultry in Cameroon or Togo, nor LPAI in commercial ostriches in South Africa.

Also in August, the U.S. confirmed its first HPAI-positive detection in 2016, when a highly pathogenic form of the H5N2 virus subtype was detected in a single wild mallard at a wildlife refuge in Alaska. Despite continued surveillance, there have been no further virus-positive cases since that time and the event is now closed, USDA has informed the OIE.

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