Global avian flu situation eases

Based on official reports received by the global animal health agency, the incidence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry appears to be in decline, although new outbreaks have been confirmed in Nepal and Taiwan.

Gabriela Pernecka, Freeimages.com
Gabriela Pernecka, Freeimages.com

Based on official reports received by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the incidence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry appears to be in decline, although new outbreaks have been confirmed in Nepal and Taiwan.

Fewer cases recently reported to the OIE suggest that HPAI in poultry may be entering a period of — at least a seasonal — decline, with just three new outbreaks reported to the agency by two countries over the last week.

Avian flu in Nepal

Nepal’s agriculture ministry has confirmed just one new outbreak, which has been linked to the H5N1 virus variant. Affected was a backyard flock of 271 birds in the Nawalparasi district of Lumbini. Twenty-five of the birds died, and the rest have been destroyed. This was Nepal’s 11th outbreak of HPAI since March, with more than 100,000 poultry lost to the disease directly through mortality or destruction. Lumbini is the fifth zone in the country to have recorded an HPAI outbreak.

Cases in Taiwan

Taiwan has been battling HPAI outbreaks caused by the H5N2 virus since 2015, and the Council of Agriculture has reported to the OIE cases at a further two locations in the last week. Around the start of May, the virus was detected in a flock of 5,675 native chickens after suspicious signs were observed during post mortem examination at a slaughterhouse in the city of Kaohsiung, as well as following the deaths of around 800 of a flock of more than 14,000 birds of the same type in the county of Yunlin.

A low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus of the H5N2 subtype has also been detected periodically in Taiwan’s poultry population since 2015. Its animal health agency has informed OIE about a further six outbreaks linked to this variant covering the period from March of 2017 to May of last year. More than 79,000 birds were affected, with 323 deaths and 60,000 slaughtered. Five of the outbreaks were in native chickens, and one was in a layer flock, in which all the mortalities were recorded. There were two outbreaks in the counties of Yunlin and Pingtung, and one each in Chiayi and Chunghua.

Resolved cases

Veterinary authorities in two Asian countries have reported to the OIE that previous HPAI disease situations — both involving the H5N6 virus subtype — have been “resolved.”

Vietnam’s agriculture ministry had reported a single outbreak of the disease in a village flock in February of this year, and the virus was detected just once in Cambodia, at a live bird market in March.

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