WattAgNet: Avian influenza returns to the UK

08-05-2017

UK government has just relaxed avian flu control measures

Hardly had previously imposed control measures been relaxed in the United Kingdom (UK), and two new outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) were confirmed in backyard flocks. Meanwhile, French authorities have reduced the avian flu-risk status of the country further.

There are also new cases in commercial poultry flocks in Russia, while intensive surveillance has revealed the virus in wild birds in Denmark and Italy.

New avian flu outbreaks in UK backyard flocks

Last week, the government agriculture department, Defra, announced that the H5N8 HPAI had been detected in two backyard poultry flocks near Thornton in the county of Lancashire in the north-west of the country. The district had been affected in previous outbreaks, the last of which began at the end of January.

Statements from the country’s has confirmed the outbreaks, firstly in a flock of around 30 chickens, and two days later in a mixed group of nine chickens and ducks in the same area. In both cases, some birds died and the rest have been humanely culled.

Source of the infection is being investigated, and the usual control measures have been put in place, including a 3-km Protection Zone and a 10-km Surveillance Zone around the affected premises.

Lifting of the Avian Influenza Protection Zone and the ban on poultry gatherings in England had been scheduled for next week.

Russia reports new HPAI cases in poultry

Two new outbreaks of HPAI caused by the H5N8 virus have been reported in the last week by Russia’s…

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