#17,098
Although the final numbers aren't in yet for the month of October, DEFRA has reported at least 82 confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in England over the past 30 days. In the previous 12 months - which until then had been the worst HPAI outbreak on record in the UK - England had reported a total of 134 outbreaks.
And this only counts outbreaks in poultry and other captive birds. The number of wild-bird detections (which runs in the hundreds) is on another list entirely.
We are seeing a similar spike in bird flu outbreaks here in the United States, with Iowa reporting the loss of over a million birds at a single farm just yesterday, and the USDA reporting 21 outbreaks in commercial flocks over the first 26 days of October.
Formerly considered only a threat to poultry and wild birds, HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses have evolved to become better suited for carriage by migratory birds, have increased their avian host range (see DEFRA: The Unprecedented `Order Shift' In Wild Bird H5N1 Positives In Europe & The UK), and have shown a greater affinity for infecting mammals (see partial list below).
Canada: First Detection Of H5N1 In A Black Bear
Sweden: First Known Infection of A Porpoise With Avian H5N1
Maine: Seal Deaths Linked To Avian H5N1
Ontario: CWHC Reports HPAI H5 Infection With Severe Neurological Signs In Wild Foxes (Vulpes vulpes)
After declaring an AIPZ (Avian Influenza Protection Zone) across all of Great Britain last month, yesterday DEFRA announced new, stricter guidelines would go into effect on November 7th.
Avian influenza: Housing order to be introduced across England
A national housing order will be introduced across England on Monday 7 November making it a legal requirement to house flocks
From:Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency Published 31 October 2022
Mandatory housing measures for all poultry and captive birds are to be introduced to all areas of England from 00:01 on Monday 7 November, following a decision by the United Kingdom’s Chief Veterinary Officer.
The housing measures legally require all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the disease, regardless of type or size.
The order will extend the mandatory housing measures already in force in the hot spot area of Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Essex to the whole of England following an increase in the national risk of bird flu in wild birds to very high.
Over the last year, the United Kingdom has faced its largest ever outbreak of avian influenza with over 200 cases confirmed since late October 2021. The introduction of the housing measures comes after the disease was detected at over 70 premises since the beginning of October, as well as multiple reports in wild birds.
The Chief Veterinary Officer is now encouraging all bird keepers across England to use the week to prepare, including taking steps to safeguard animal welfare, consult their private vet and expand housing where necessary.
The United Kingdom’s Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said:
We are now facing this year, the largest ever outbreak of bird flu and are seeing rapid escalation in the number of cases on commercial farms and in backyard birds across England. The risk of kept birds being exposed to disease has reached a point where it is now necessary for all birds to be housed until further notice.
Scrupulous biosecurity and separating flocks in all ways, from wild birds remain the best form of defence. Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from Monday 7 November onwards you must keep your indoors. This decision has not been taken lightly, but is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease.
Evidence shows that housing birds reduces the risk of kept birds being infected with bird flu. However, housing alone will not protect birds and all keepers must still follow the other enhanced biosecurity measures mandated by the AIPZ at all times to protect their flocks and prevent the risk of future outbreaks which is circulating in wild birds. Housing combined with stringent biosecurity measures can provide even greater reduction in risk.
The new housing measures build on the strengthened biosecurity measures that were brought in as part of the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) earlier this month. The AIPZ means that all bird keepers need to take extra precautions, such as restricting access for non-essential people on site, ensuring workers change clothing and footwear before entering bird enclosures and cleaning and disinfecting vehicles regularly to limit the risk of the disease spreading.
The UK Health Security Agency continue to advise that the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency advice remains unchanged, that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
Further Information:
The addition of housing measures to the AIPZ already in force across England means all bird keepers across England must:
- Biosecurity guidance and a biosecurity self-assessment checklist have been published by Defra to assist all bird keepers in instigating and maintaining good biosecurity, which together with further updates on the latest avian influenza situation, can be found via GOV.UK/bird-flu
- housing or netting all poultry and captive birds
- cleanse and disinfect clothing, footwear, equipment and vehicles before and after contact with poultry and captive birds – if practical, use disposable protective clothing
- reduce the movement of people, vehicles or equipment to and from areas where poultry and captive birds are kept, to minimise contamination from manure, slurry and other products, and use effective vermin control
- keep records of mortality, movement of poultry and poultry products and any changes in production
- thoroughly cleanse and disinfect housing on a continuous basis
- keep fresh disinfectant at the right concentration at all farm and poultry housing entry and exit points
- minimise direct and indirect contact between poultry and captive birds and wild birds, including making sure all feed and water is not accessible to wild birds
- prevent access by poultry to ponds and watercourses and ensure that birds are kept in fenced or enclosed areas
In 2004-2005 HPAI H5 moved out of Southeast Asia, and arrived first in Europe, then the Middle-East and Northern Africa (Egypt). It also spread across Asia, sparking outbreaks from South Korea to India, but North and South America, and Australia, remained protected by vast oceans.
In 2014, HPAI made it to North America for the first time, sparking a major epizootic, which ended in the summer of 2015. In 2017, HPAI crossed the equator in Africa, and took up residence for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere.
For 7 years it remained absent from North America, only to arrive again last December (see Multiple Introductions of H5 HPAI Viruses into Canada Via both East Asia-Australasia/Pacific & Atlantic Flyways), before proceeding to rapidly spread across the continent.
While HPAI H5Nx remains primarily a threat to wild birds and poultry, it continues to evolve in unpredictable ways, making it a threat we can't afford to ignore.Although the H5Nx viruses of today are distant descendants of the ancestral HPAI H5N1 viruses that came out of China, their progeny are now threatening a new continent; South America (see WOAH: Colombia Reports Two Outbreaks of HPAI H5N1).
