South Korea has confirmed the country’s first highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak of the season.
Affected was a farm at Donghae, which is around 180km east of the capital, Seoul, reported the Yonhap news agency on October 30. Around 780 poultry (chickens and ducks) at the farm have been culled. A 24-hour nationwide standstill on poultry movements has been ordered by the agriculture ministry, in order for additional disinfection to be carried out at key locations.
Donghae is located in the northeastern province of Gangwon.
The presence of the H5N1 HPAI virus serotype has been confirmed by the agriculture ministry. It describes the affected poultry as laying birds.
Since the start of October, wild birds have tested positive for the same virus variant at three locations in the country.
3 outbreaks in Japanese poultry flocks
In mid-October, the nation’s veterinary agency confirmed the first HPAI outbreak in poultry in Japan following a four-month hiatus.
According to the official notification to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), affected was a broiler flock of around 19,900 birds on the northernmost island of Hokkaido.
Presence of the H5N1 virus serotype was confirmed after 120 of the chickens died.
Around one week later, a second outbreak was confirmed. This involved around 37,300 laying hens in Katori, a town in Chiba prefecture. It is located in the Kanto region, which includes the Greater Tokyo area in the main island of Honshu.
Just days later, the agriculture ministry confirmed a third HPAI outbreak in a small layer flock in the Joetsu city area. Part of Niigata prefecture, it is in Chubu — the region adjacent to Kanto. The virus serotype involved is yet to be confirmed.
Japan’s first HPAI case in wild birds of the autumn/fall season were detected at the end of September. It was in a birds of prey on Hokkaido.
Latest notification to WOAH puts the total number of birds testing positive for the H5N1 virus so far at 106, with cases also found in Honshu.
Cases reported elsewhere in Asia’s poultry, wild birds
At the end of August, the H5N1 HPAI virus serotype was detected again in the southwest district of Chukha in Bhutan. This was the first outbreak in more than five years, according to the WOAH notification.
Affecting a backyard flock of 148 birds, the outbreak appears to have occurred near to the border with the Indian state of Assam.
In mid-August, two outbreaks of HPAI linked to the same virus variant were confirmed in Odisha, according to the Indian veterinary authority notification to WOAH.
Around 10km apart, the two flocks comprised around 23,400 and 18,000 birds of unspecified type in the district of Puri. It was reported that this eastern state had been free of HPAI virus for almost four years.
Over the past two months, three further outbreak linked to the H5N1 virus variant have been confirmed in Taiwan.
According to recent WOAH reports, affected were firstly a small flock of native chickens at a slaughterhouse in early August. Later that month, more birds of the same type tested positive for the virus at a different slaughterhouse, and then a flock of almost 73,000 laying quail at a farm. All these outbreaks occurred in different counties. They bring the territory’s total outbreaks so far to five.
Avian flu is among the factors that have driven down the self-sufficiency rate for meat consumed in Taiwan, according to a recent report from Focus Taiwan. The figure for all meats dropped from 73.5% in 2022 to 70.8% last year.
In the Philippines, there are nine on-going HPAI outbreaks in poultry flocks. These are all in one of two provinces in the Central Luzon region, according to the latest update from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry (dated October 25).
Meanwhile, in the west of Asia, HPAI outbreaks have been registered in both wild birds and poultry in Israel.
Based on reports to WOAH, there have been four outbreaks on poultry farms over the past two months. Directly impacted have been more than 129,000 commercial birds.
Furthermore, five wild birds have also tested positive for the H5N1 HPAI virus variant.
Tiger mortality in Vietnam linked to HPAI
Deaths of dozens of tigers at zoos in Vietnam have been attributed to the H5N1 HPAI virus serotype.
Since August, 47 tigers, three lions, and a panther have died at a safari park and a zoo in the country. This is according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation earlier this month, citing an official source in Vietnam. Officials there said that contaminated chickens fed to the big cats were the likely source of infection.
Further human cases in Asia
Over the past two months, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded three more human cases of confirmed infections with influenza virus of avian origin in the Western Pacific region.
In Cambodia, a 15-year-old girl in Prey Veng province became ill, tested positive for the influenza A(H5N1), and died in August. Poultry that had recently died in the village were given to the family, and the young woman was exposed to the virus during its preparation and cooking.
Also during August, a three-year-old girl in China’s Guangdong province tested positive for the H9N2 virus variant. She was taken to hospital but not admitted, according to WHO.
During the first week of September, a three-year-old boy in the Chongqing municipality of China developed mild symptoms. He also tested positive for the H9N2 virus, but did not require hospital treatment, and has since recovered, WHO reports.
Furthermore, in India, a human H5N1 infection has been confirmed in the Puri district of Odisha state, according to Economic Times. Following the outbreaks in poultry in the district, the health authorities were reported to be closely monitoring the situation.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation in poultry, and on disease developments in the U.S. dairy sector.