UK: DEFRA Reports LPAI H5 Outbreak In Suffolk Poultry

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Late yesterday the UK's DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) announced the first detection of LPAI H5 we've seen in UK poultry since the summer of 2017. 

The UK did report finding LPAI H5N6 in wild birds in the early months of 2018 (see UK: DEFRA Avian Flu In Europe Update -Feb 14th), but that new strain has yet to show the kind of virulence its predecessors H5N1, and H5N8 had demonstrated.

There are two broad categories of avian influenza; LPAI (Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza) and HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza).  

• LPAI viruses are quite common in wild birds, cause little illness, and only rarely death.  They are not considered to be a serious threat to public health, although H5 & H7 strains have the potential to mutate into HPAI strains.

• HPAI viruses are more dangerous, can produce high morbidity and mortality in wild birds and poultry, and can sometimes infect humans with serious result. The number of HPAI viruses that scientists have been tracking has increased markedly over the past 6 years, and now includes H5N1, H5N2, H5N6, H5N8,H10N8, and others.

Before the middle of the last decade, there was no uniform requirement to report or track LPAI infections in poultry.  That changed in 2006 when the OIE made reporting of LPAI H5 & H7 viruses mandatory.

While other LPAI subtypes are not currently reportable to the OIE (see Terrestrial Animal Code Article 10.4.1.), that doesn't make them entirely benign. We've seen human infections with H9N2 and H6N1, neither of which are reportable to the OIE.

The concern with LPAI H5 and H7 viruses in particular is that when they are not controlled - and are allowed to spread in poultry - they have the potential to mutate into highly pathogenic strains.

LPAI H5 viruses are generally considered to pose a very low risk of infection to humans, although those risks are not zero. 

Avian influenza (bird flu) identified in Suffolk

Low pathogenic avian flu of the H5 strain has been confirmed at a commercial chicken farm in Mid Suffolk, on Tuesday 10 December 2019.

Published 10 December 2019
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

Low pathogenic avian flu of the H5 strain has been confirmed at a commercial chicken farm in Mid Suffolk, today (10 December).

All the birds will now be humanely culled and we have put in place a 1km restriction zone around the infected farm to limit the risk of the disease spreading.

The advice from Public Health England (PHE) is that the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency has made clear that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers. Thoroughly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.

Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss, said:

Low Pathogenic Avian flu has been confirmed on a commercial chicken farm in Suffolk. Immediate steps have been taken to limit the risk of the disease spreading and 27,000 poultry at the farm will be culled.

Public Health England has confirmed that the risk to public health is very low and the Food Standards Agency has said that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.

Bird keepers should remain alert for any signs of disease, report suspected disease immediately and ensure they are maintaining good biosecurity on their premises.

We are urgently looking for any evidence of disease spread associated with this strain to control and eliminate it.

Dr Gavin Dabrera, Public Health Consultant, Public Health England, said:

Avian flu (often called bird flu) is primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low.

As a precaution, we are offering public health advice and antivirals to those who had contact with the affected birds, as is standard practice.

A detailed investigation is in progress to determine the most likely source of this outbreak.

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