Health
‘Unprecedented’ Number Of Bird Flu Cases in Europe and UK this Summer
(CTN News) – A record number of cases of Bird flu have been reported in the UK and Europe this summer, with 47.7m birds culled since last autumn.
Since last year, poultry producers from Norway’s Svalbard islands to southern Portugal have reported almost 2,500 outbreaks.
According to the latest update from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, European Food Safety Authority, and the EU reference laboratory, thousands of outbreaks have been reported in wild birds.
Breeding colonies of sea birds on the north Atlantic coast were devastated by the virus.
With warmer weather and the end of wild bird migration, Bird flu outbreaks have declined in recent years.
However, outbreaks have continued across the UK and elsewhere in Europe this summer, causing fears that highly pathogenic Bird flu variants will now endemic in wild birds.
Domesticated bird Flu outbreaks were five times higher from June to September than last year. Experts say that the Bird Flu has spread to all kinds of birds now.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, outbreaks have spread along migration routes from Europe to North America, killing millions of poultry in the US and Canada.
This winter could see more Bird Flu outbreaks, Says experts.
As autumn migration begins and the number of wild birds wintering in Europe increases, they’re more likely to get HPAI than last year because the virus persists in Europe, says Guilhem de Seze, the EFA’s head of risk assessment.
You might have to keep free-range chickens indoors if you have year-round infections in the UK and Europe.
A veterinary trial to test bird flu vaccines has started in France and the Netherlands, but there are questions about whether vaccinated birds can still spread the disease if infected.
EU wants “free range” eggs to be able to be labelled even if they’re kept inside.
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