Author: Sibiyeh de la Hameed
PARIS, Dec 11 (Reuters) – An unprecedented number of avian influenza outbreaks in wild birds and their widespread geographical distribution are driving an early and strong wave of the disease in Europe this year, the European Food Safety Authority said on Thursday.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of farmed birds in recent years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices. Human cases remain rare.
Epidemics typically peak in the autumn as migratory birds migrate south, but earlier cases emerged this season, killing many wild birds, mainly common cranes along the routes to Germany, France and Spain, as well as large numbers of waterfowl.
The European Food Safety Authority stated in a report that between September 6 and November 28, 2,896 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 viruses (mainly H5N1) were reported in poultry in 29 European countries, of which 442 cases were detected in poultry and 2,454 cases were detected in wild birds.
“We are currently seeing an unprecedented and dramatic increase in detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses, mainly in wild birds,” Lisa Kohnle, scientific officer at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), told Reuters.
The number of poultry outbreaks is similar to previous years, but is five times higher than in 2023 and almost twice as high as in 2021. Turkeys are the most affected.
“For poultry, what’s interesting is that these epidemics in previous years were characterized by a lot of farm-to-farm transmission,” Kornler said. “This year it seems that we mainly introduced them from wild birds.”
In humans, bird flu has infected 19 people in four countries (Cambodia, China, Mexico and the United States), killing one in Cambodia and one in the United States, the European Food Safety Authority said. All cases involved exposure to poultry or poultry environments.
Avian influenza outbreaks in mammals are down from 2022 and 2023, but remain a concern due to potential mutations that could allow avian influenza to spread from person to person.
Koenler said that while high mortality rates among wild birds may prompt tighter control measures on farms and help slow the spread of the virus, test results are likely to continue to rise.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Louise Heavens)