In the last two weeks, the only state to have reported new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry is Taiwan, but the virus has also been detected for the first time for several months in wild birds in western Europe.
In the latest official reports to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Taiwan’s veterinary authority has confirmed four new outbreaks of HPAI caused by the H5N2 virus variant in recent weeks.
In mid-August, a group of native chickens at a Kaohsiung city slaughterhouse showing suspicious symptoms tested positive for the virus. Other cases were confirmed among native chickens, breeding geese, and turkeys at three locations in the county of Yunlin, leading to the loss of more than 36,000 birds through mortality and destruction.
After two outbreaks of HPAI linked to the H5N1 virus family earlier this year, Nepal’s animal health agency has declared the disease situation “resolved” to the OIE. The last evidence of HPAI in the region of these outbreaks, Kathmandu, was more than 90 days previously, according to the report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.
While monitoring in the surrounding area continues, Malaysian veterinary authorities have found no new cases of HPAI in poultry in the Tuaran district of Sabah state, reports New Straits Times. Since August, poultry at four locations in the area—including two farms—have tested positive for the H5N1 HPAI virus.
Europe: HPAI detected in wild birds
As the wild bird migration season gets underway, the H5N6 HPAI virus has been detected for the first time in several months in Germany and The Netherlands.
The German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture has reported to the OIE that a small mixed flock of rare and endangered chickens, geese and ducks tested positive for the virus after 14 of the birds died at the end of August. Located in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, the flock is described as “backyard.” These are the first cases of HPAI in the country since May of this year.
The Dutch agriculture ministry has reported its first detection of the virus since April 2018 in a village duck found dead in the province of North Holland in the north-west of The Netherlands. The virus appears to have developed by reassortment of the previously found H5N8 type, and not a form of the H5N6 virus circulating in Asia, according to the official report to the OIE.
A further six wild birds found dead at two locations on the Danish island of Zealand have tested positive for the H5N6 HPAI virus, according to the report to the OIE from the country’s veterinary authority. Four of the cases were in the town of Slagelse, and a further two in the municipality of Guldborgsund.
One year on from the last detection of the H5N8 HPAI virus in wild birds, the Federal Veterinary Office in Switzerland has declared the country free of the disease.
In the latest of its regular updates to the OIE, Russia’s animal health agency has reported no new outbreaks of HPAI caused by an H5 virus to the OIE. The most recent cases were confirmed in early August.
Low-pathogenic avian flu virus detected in U.S. turkey flock
As the result of a pre-slaughter testing and surveillance program, a low-pathogenic H7N3 avian flu virus has been detected in a flock of commercial meat-type turkeys in Stanislaus County, California. All 26,528 birds have been depopulated, and the carcasses incinerated, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture report to the OIE. Ten commercial farms within 10 kilometers of the affected premises are being tested.
In 2014, birds at a quail farm in the county were culled after testing positive for a low-pathogenic avian flu virus of the H5 family.
Fewer H7N9 HPAI detections in China
Only three human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) have been detected in China in the current wave of the disease, according to the World Health Organization. Official reports also reveal fewer detections of the virus in poultry and environmental samples.
The current disease wave is the sixth, and it began in October 2017. Since the virus was first detected in people in March of 2013, there have been 1,567 confirmed human cases, and at least 615 of these patients have died.
