Europe’s top poultry producing countries face avian flu

Since the start of 2017, four of Europe’s top poultry meat-producing countries – Poland, France, the U.K. and Germany - have reported new outbreaks of highly-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), and the virus has also been found for the first time in wild birds in Spain and Italy.

Photo courtesy of Iowa Turkey Federation
Photo courtesy of Iowa Turkey Federation

Since the start of 2017, four of Europe’s top poultry meat-producing countries – Poland, France, the U.K. and Germany - have reported new outbreaks of highly-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), and the virus has also been found for the first time in wild birds in Spain and Italy. Other countries reporting new HPAI outbreaks in commercial poultry are China, Taiwan and Iran.

Europe: New outbreaks in Poland, France, UK and Germany

Based on official reports to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), France has reported the most new outbreaks of HPAI in poultry caused by the H5N8 virus subtype since the start of 2017, with cases at 20 new locations. These included the first cases in the department of Deux-Sèvres, a region in the west of the country; previous outbreaks had been confined to the southwest. More than 97,000 birds were affected, according to the OIE reports. However, a more recent overview from the ministry of agriculture puts the total number of outbreaks in domestic poultry since December 2016 at 114. At one of the Deux-Sèvres outbreaks, a low-pathogenic H5N1 virus was also detected in the guinea fowl in the affected flock.

Veterinary authorities in Poland have reported to the OIE a further 12 outbreaks of HPAI caused by the H5N8 virus variant. Half of these were in Lubuskie province, with the rest in Opole, Lesser Poland, Holy Cross and Subcarpathia. Worst affected has been the turkey sector. A total of almost 153,000 poultry in commercial and backyard flocks were lost to the disease in the latest outbreaks alone due to mortality or destruction to prevent further spread of the virus. They bring the total losses since November 2016 to more than 376,000 poultry.

Five of the most recently reported H5N8 HPAI outbreaks in Germany were in flocks of fattening turkeys in Lower Saxony, and a sixth was in laying hens in neighboring Saxony-Anhalt. Almost 84,000 birds died or were destroyed as a result of these outbreaks. The same virus was also detected in wild birds at 17 locations across the country.

Eleven new outbreaks in the United Kingdom have been reported to the OIE. Nine of these were in wild birds at various locations in England, Wales and Scotland. The remaining two were in small non-commercial poultry flocks – one in North Yorkshire and one in Carmarthenshire in Wales - with a total of 42 birds, bringing the total number of outbreaks in domestic poultry to three.

Romania has reported to the OIE its first outbreaks of H5N8 HPAI in domestic birds – in two backyard flocks in the regions of Tulcea and Prahova.

Several other European countries have detected the same virus variant in dead or dying wild birds, including Finland, Sweden, Serbia and Switzerland. Italy, Spain, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have reported to the OIE detecting the virus in the respective wild bird populations for the first time.

Authorities in Croatia have informed OIE of the first detections of the H5N5 variant of the virus in two dead wild birds.

Asia: Taiwan, China, Iran report new cases

Having battled the H5N8 subtype of HPAI for two years, the authorities in Taiwan have reported a further four new outbreaks to the OIE. Three of these were picked up as a result of testing birds on arrival at slaughterhouses in Taipei and Kaohsiung, while a flock of more than 24,000 birds in Yunlin county also tested positive for this virus. After a three-month period of absence in the country, the highly pathogenic H5N2 virus was detected at two further farms in Yunlin.

HPAI of the H5N6 subtype has also returned to China. OIE has been informed by the Chinese authorities of one new outbreaks in wild geese at a farm of more 3,000 poultry in Hunan province.

Five new outbreaks of HPAI caused by the H5N8 virus have been reported in the north and west of Iran. According to the report sent to the OIE, four of these were in small backyard flocks but a flock of 161,000 layers also tested positive for the virus during routine surveillance. Within 3km of these outbreaks were a further 1.86 million poultry, which were destined for slaughter after testing negative for the virus.

Americas: Low-path outbreak in Chile

An outbreak of avian influenza in Chile was mentioned in a previous report. According to the ministry of agriculture’s report to the OIE, the cause was a low pathogenic member of the H7 family of influenza A viruses. More than 5,000 of the 344,540 fattening turkeys at the farm in Valparaiso died, and the rest were destroyed.

The recent detection of H5N2 HPAI virus in a wild duck in the state of Montana has prompted the USDA to warn poultry producers in the U.S. to be on heightened alert for signs of disease in their birds.

Brazil has never reported any cases of avian influenza in its poultry sector but concern is running so high that the broiler producers association, ABPA, has advised its members who export poultry meat to allow no visitors into their facilities.

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