Avian flu outbreaks threaten Asian poultry sector

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses have been confirmed recently in Asian countries as geographically spread as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. There have also been new cases in Russian poultry, and among the Dutch wild bird population.

Thatsaphon Saengnarongrat, Bigstock
Thatsaphon Saengnarongrat, Bigstock

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses have been confirmed recently in Asian countries as geographically spread as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. There have also been new cases in Russian poultry, and among the Dutch wild bird population.

Saudi Arabia’s animal health agency has reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) the return of HPAI after an absence of almost 10 years. The H5N8 variant of the virus has been confirmed at a poultry farm with more than 60,000 birds in Riyadh.

The outbreak was confined to a fenced yard in Muzahmiya governorate, according to Arab News. Twenty-one birds died or were showing signs of the disease, and the flock was destroyed when the virus was detected. The authorities immediately banned all movements of poultry with a 10-kilometer radius of the affected farm.

In South Korea, HPAI viruses of the H5N6 subtype have been confirmed at two new locations, both rearing meat ducks, in the provinces of South Jeolla and North Jeolla in the south-west of the country. According to the official report to the OIE, just over 60,000 birds were destroyed following confirmation of the virus.

DNA analysis for the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency indicates that two variants of the H5N6 HPAI virus entered South Korea with wild birds during the latest migration season, reports Yonhap. One of these variants is a reassortment of H5N8 HPAI from Europe with a low-pathogenic N6 subtype. The latest South Jeolla outbreak involved a virus of different origin and the farm had recently received ducklings from a supplier where HPAI had subsequently been confirmed.

Aiming to halt the spread of infection in this region — the center of South Korean duck production — the authorities imposed an immediate 24-hour ban on all movements of farmers, vehicles and equipment, according to Yonhap.

Following three previous HPAI outbreaks caused by an H5N6 virus, the Department of Agriculture in the Philippines has reported to the OIE further cases dating back to November. Around 42,000 birds were lost to the disease as the result of mortality or destruction at a farm in Nueva Ecija in Central Luzon, the same province where two outbreaks occurred in August of this year.

Cambodia’s veterinary authority has reported to the OIE a second outbreak of HPAI linked to the H5N1 virus variant. The latest outbreak was in a flock of around 5,000 ducks in Kampong Thom province, which adjoins Kampong Cham, which was the location of the previous cases last month.

Taiwan’s animal health agency has informed OIE about the recent detection of a new low-pathogenic strain of the H5N6 virus family at two duck farms in Zhusan in Nantou county in central Taiwan. None of the birds died but the flocks totaling 12,000 animals were humanely destroyed.

After an absence of nine months, the H5N1 HPAI virus has been detected in wild birds at two locations in Dhaka, according to the official OIE report from Bangladesh’s Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. Sixty-four house crows were found dead, and a further 28 were destroyed.

Hong Kong’s chef veterinarian has informed OIE that a wild bird found dead in Sai Kung district in the New Territories last week tested positive for an H5N6 HPAI virus — the first detection since April of 2017.

Europe: New outbreak in Russian poultry

Russia has been battling H5N8 HPAI since December of 2016, and the agriculture ministry has reported to the OIE a new outbreak of the disease at a farm in Kostroma oblast in Central Russia. Poultry Farm Kostromskaya lost more than 43,000 of its 663,500 birds to the disease in mid-December, and the remaining animals have been destroyed.

In the Netherlands, a further 50 wild birds at two locations in the provinces of Gelderland and Flevoland have tested positive for the H5N6 HPAI virus. The Dutch authorities have confirmed in the OIE report that the virus involved is a reassortment of the H5N8 variant circulating in Europe since last winter, and is not linked to the zoonotic H5N6 subtype from Asia.

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