Highly pathogenic avian influenza returns to Laos

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has stricken a backyard poultry flock in Laos, marking the return of the virus to the Asian country after an absence of more than one year.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Andrea Gantz)
(Andrea Gantz)

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has stricken a backyard poultry flock in Laos, marking the return of the virus to the Asian country after an absence of more than one year.

The Laos Department of Livestock and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) this week that highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza had been detected in backyard flock of birds in the Thateng District.

According to a report on the OIE website, there were 45 birds in the flock, and of those, 18 had died. The remaining 27 birds were stamped out and disposed of.

The property is being disinfected. Other control measures that were implemented include movement control inside the country and zoning.

The source of infection has not been determined.

The OIE reported that Laos had been declared free of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) since September 2017.

Laos in July 2017 reported the presence of HPAI caused by the H5N1 virus variant to the OIE, with five outbreaks that started in early July. Four of the affected farms were in the central Xaysomboun Special Region, and the other was in Champasak, which is in the south and borders Cambodia. More than 14,000 birds – ducks and hens – died from the disease at the time, and more than 4,000 were destroyed.

Other recent avian influenza cases

Laos is the only country to have newly reported cases of HPAI so far during the week beginning October 21, but according to reports filed with the OIE during the previous week, the virus was still present in Bulgaria and Vietnam.

The Bulgarian avian influenza outbreak involved two farms, which respectively had 16,000 and 130,000 birds. Between the two flocks, which were affected by a variant of H5 avian influenza, had a total of 7,718 birds die, while the others were killed and disposed of.

The case in Vietnam involved about 2,500 birds. Birds in that flock tested positive for H5N6 avian influenza. Of those, 100 died and the remaining birds were also destroyed.

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