Farmers urged caution against highly pathogenic bird flu

Farmers and bird zookeepers are urged to stay vigilant for highly pathogenic strains. bird-flu It is distributed in Europe and led to the culling of more than 13,000 chickens on a Cheshire farm earlier this month.

The H5N8 avian influenza virus is currently not at risk to the human body, but its incidence has increased in recent years.

This highly pathogenic strain means that it leads to more serious diseases of birds rather than being easily transmitted. Confirmed on several farms in Europe this year Over 200,000 chickens were culled on a Dutch farm last week.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Areas (Defra) also confirmed that three wild geese that died in Gloucestershire were tested positive for the same highly pathogenic virus strain. Experts are currently investigating whether these deaths are associated with the outbreak of Cheshire.

Defra has raised the risk level of diseases brought into UK poultry facilities from “low” to “medium”.

Christine Middlemis, the UK’s chief veterinarian, said the risk to public health was very low, adding: “The Food Standards Agency advises that bird flu poses a very low food safety risk to UK consumers. Bird zookeepers pay attention to signs of illness and immediately report suspicious illnesses. , You need to make sure you maintain good biosecurity on the premises, “she said.

The last outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 struck 29 European countries, including the United Kingdom, in 2016-17, killing millions of poultry across the continent. 900,000 birds were killed in Germany alone.

The UK was previously declared free of bird flu in September 2017 and has not had a highly pathogenic bird flu since then.

Although the disease can spread to the southern and western parts of the continent, the European Disease Control Center states that Northern and Eastern Europe are at greatest risk of developing H5N8, alerting European countries to the disease.

The same strain has been reported in South Korea, but experts believe the outbreak is unlikely to be related. The Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that the virus was found in a sample taken from wild birds last week.

The ministry said it had stepped up precautions to curb the spread of bird flu and issued warnings of highly pathogenic bird flu.

Dr. Holly Shelton, an influenza virus expert at the Pill Bright Institute, said there have been no significant outbreaks of bird flu in the UK in recent years. However, recent outbreaks in Europe have meant that the UK is likely to follow the same pattern.

“The way bird flu is transmitted is through migratory birds. It’s the best season for birds spending the summer in Russia and Asia to travel to Africa in the winter. A significant number of these roads cross Europe. And because it’s a long journey, it stops in many places, “she said.

She said the authorities have strong steps to tackle the outbreak.

“As soon as an outbreak is detected, they have punching controls that isolate the farm, euthanize birds, and limit the movement of local animals,” she said.

Dr. Shelton added that it is important to monitor outbreaks for potential spread to humans, but there are no recorded cases of this particular strain in humans anywhere in the world.

“All influenza viruses can evolve and create changes that can jump into different host species,” she said, and these viruses need to undergo multiple changes to spread to the human population. I added that there is.

“H5N8 does not have the property that raises concerns about the possibility of jumping from person to person. However, if the virus jumps into an individual a little, the virus is more likely to adapt, so the virus It needs to be treated with caution, “she said.

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