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| HPAI Outbreaks Since July 1st 2017 |
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Although it's been about 10 days since our last update on H5N8 in Italy, any hopes that their three-month battle with HPAI H5N8 has ended are dashed by three new reports from Italy's IZSV (Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie), including what appears to be their largest single poultry outbreak (up to 1 million birds) this year.
Late yesterday media reports began to appear in the Italian press regarding an outbreak in among laying hens at a large farm in Codigoro in Ferrara in the Northeast Emilio-Romagna region of Italy.Typical of the media coverage is this (translated report) from La Nuova Ferrara.
Ferrara, AI: 850 thousand chickens from breaking down
The virus in one of the biggest factories of the area. Veterinary: we are worried but everything is under control of Annarita Bova
October 8, 2017
CODIGORO. Avian influenza has arrived in Codigoro and hit some laying hens within the plants of the agricultural society Fiorin on the way to Ferrara. The animals to be killed are about 850 thousand plus all eggs produced in these days. The mayor Alice Zanardi was forced to proceed with the livestock health seizure, one of the biggest of the whole area, and the subsequent killing of all birds.
(Continue . . . )
This morning the IZSV updated their Avian Influenza Surveillance site with the following information.
2016/2017 – H5N5, H5N8
October 201706/10/2017 – On 6 October, the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza and Newcastle Disease (NRL) confirmed as positive for Avian Influenza A virus subtype H5 a broiler farm in Vicenza province (Veneto region). There were around 13.040 43 days-old birds present at the farm. This farm is located 1.220 meters away from the case confirmed on 26 September in a duck farm in Vicenza province.
On the same day, the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza and Newcastle Disease (NRL) confirmed as positive for Avian Influenza A virus subtype H5N8 a laying hen farm in Ferrara province (Emilia-Romagna region). Around one million hens, reared in percheries, were present at the farm. The farm is located in a large wetland characterised by a low density of poultry farms. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.
02/10/2017 – On 28 September, samples from a juvenile swan (Cygnus spp) found in Como province (Lombardy region), were analysed at a local laboratory (Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia-Romagna) and resulted positive to Avian Influenza subtype H5. The residential bird was found dead in lake Como. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.
The unusual persistence of H5N8 over the summer in Italy, and to a far lesser extent in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK (see DEFRA: Outbreak Assessment On H5N8 In Europe - Summer 2017) has raised concerns that avian flu may be becoming more of a year-round threat (see DEFRA Warns Of `Constant Risk' From Avian Flu).
Similar concerns have been raised in Asia (see South Korea To Move To Year-Round AI Prevention), and no one quite knows what effects - if any - this year's introduction of H5N8 into the Southern Hemisphere will have on the future spread, evolution, and persistance of HPAI H5 around the globe.With winter approaching, poultry interests across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa will be watching this fall's migration season (see 2016's Sci Repts.: Southward Autumn Migration Of Waterfowl Facilitates Transmission Of HPAI H5N1) with both interest and concern.
