#13,044
Although FluTrackers has had the Arabic language media reports for more than a week, today the OIE published the official notification of HPAI H5N8 in Dilaya, Iraq.
While we've heard occasional (unconfirmed) reports of poultry deaths over the past year in Iraq, this is their first OIE notification since December of 2016.Iraq joins Iran, Saudi Arabia in reporting H5N8 outbreaks during this winter of 2017-18. While we are also aware of numerous bird flu outbreaks in Egypt, they no longer submit regular OIE reports, and so it isn't clear how much of their activity is due to H5N1 and how much is due to H5N8.
While H5N8 has been a no-show in most of Europe, South Korea, and Japan this winter, it appears to be alive and well in the Middle East, and in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa as well (see Dec 13th FAO report).
