Germany, Hungary, Poland report avian flu in poultry

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been reported in new regions of Germany and Hungary. The virus has also been detected on farms in Poland and South Africa, and the mild form of the disease has been confirmed on five more turkey farms in the U.S.

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

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been reported in new regions of Germany and Hungary. The virus has also been detected on farms in Poland and South Africa, and the mild form of the disease has been confirmed on five more turkey farms in the U.S.

In Germany, the H5N8 virus variant of HPAI was detected at a poultry farm in Lower Saxony last week. This is the first occurrence of the disease in this northwestern state since June of 2017.

Affected in the latest outbreak was a farm with more than 10,300 breeding turkeys, according to the official report from the federal agriculture ministry to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Around 130 of the birds died, and the rest have been destroyed. Source of the infection in this outbreak is unknown.

In the eastern German state of Saxony, a wild bird has tested positive for the same virus subtype. The buzzard was found dead last week in the Leipzig city area, according to a separate official report to the OIE. A previous HPAI outbreak was confirmed recently in a backyard poultry flock in the same area.

Hungarian duck flock infected

Ducks at a farm in southern Hungary have tested positive for the H5N8 avian flu virus, reports Hungary Today. Around 32,000 birds in Bacs-Kiskun county are scheduled for culling and destruction.

Authorities have set up a three-kilometer protection zone and 10-kilometer surveillance zone around the infected premises. Poultry farmers are reminded of the current order to keep their birds housed.

The official report from the Hungarian agriculture ministry to the OIE puts the poultry population at the farm at 15,547 11-day-old ducklings. More than 3,200 of the birds at the farm died, and 12,315 have been destroyed.

Source of the latest infection is unknown, but the report highlights that winds, high humidity, and human contact contribute to the spread of the disease.

Within the last month, the HPAI situation was reported as “resolved” by the Hungarian veterinary authority. The declaration followed a period without new outbreaks after the H5N8 HPAI virus was detected at four farms in northern and eastern counties around the start of 2020.

Polish turkey flocks tests positive for HPAI

A flock of around 94,000 meat turkeys in Poland has tested positive for the H5N8 HPAI virus. The birds — numbering more than 94,200 — were at a farm near Sulecin in the province of Lubusz, according to the Italian health authority and research organization for animal health and food safety (IZSVe). Appropriate control and eradication measures are reported to have been put in place.

Lubusz is one of seven Polish provinces where HPAI outbreaks have been confirmed since the end of 2019.

HPAI virus detected in more South African ostriches

In January, the H5N8 HPAI virus was detected at a further commercial ostrich farm, according to the latest report from the agriculture department to the OIE. Of the 446 birds at the farm in Oudtshoorn in Western Cape Province, there were 25 cases of the disease, and four ostriches died.

Since the first outbreak in June of 2017, there have now been 216 confirmed HPAI outbreaks linked to this virus variant in South Africa. The commercial ostrich sector has been repeatedly but sporadically hit by the infection, with the most recent confirmed cases in the same area in October of 2019.

Avian flu resolved in Israel

Israel’s agriculture ministry has declared to the OIE that the HPAI situation has been “resolved.”

This follows the detection of the H5N8 HPAI virus in a wild eagle at the end of January. Found with neurological symptoms, the bird had been quarantined at a wildlife hospital, and it was euthanized in early February.

Mild avian flu detected at more U.S. turkey farms

Enhanced surveillance has revealed the low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus of the H7N3 virus at eight more commercial turkey farms. One of these units is in South Carolina, the second state to report cases.

Affected were five farms in Union County, North Carolina, and one was in Anson County. The South Carolina outbreak is in Chesterfield County. Turkey breeders were at one of the Union County farms, but the other outbreaks involved meat turkeys. None of the almost 189,000 birds had shown symptoms of avian flu, according to the official report to the OIE from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Depopulation of the farms and disposal of the birds was ongoing. Federal and state animal health agencies are continuing enhanced surveillance for the virus, as well as epidemiological investigations.

Just the previous week, this LPAI virus variant was reported at three turkey farms in North Carolina.

The latest cases bring the total outbreaks since March 10 to 11, and the number of turkeys directly affected to more than 279,000.

Last week, the U.S. and China entered into an agreement that U.S. regions unaffected by HPAI will still be eligible for the continued international trade of poultry products. This agreement over regionalization forms part of an economic and trade agreement between the two countries that the Trump administration says will boost U.S. agriculture.

View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.

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