National authorities urged to continue surveillance of wild birds and poultry and implement control measures.

November 20, 2020

2 Min Read
EFSA Goose.jpg
EFSA

The risk of avian influenza moving into previously unaffected European countries is high, according to an update published Nov. 20 by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that shows that the virus is spreading rapidly across the continent.

Within the past month, EFSA said more than 300 cases have been reported in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the U.K. The majority of the detections were in wild birds, although there have been a handful of outbreaks in domestic poultry.

The new report rates the likelihood of the virus spreading from wild birds to poultry as high, EFSA said.

In its previous overview, EFSA warned that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) could spread quickly to Western Europe following outbreaks among wild and domestic birds in western Russia and Kazakhstan this summer. The region is on the autumn migration route for wild water birds heading to Europe.

No human cases have been detected in the new outbreaks so far, and the risk of transmission to the general public remains very low. However, the evolution of the viruses needs to be closely monitored to assess the ongoing risk of viruses emerging that can be transmitted to people.

Nik Kriz, head of EFSA’s Animal & Plant Health Unit, said, “Preventing further escalation of these outbreaks will require close cooperation between animal, public, environmental and occupational health authorities — in other words, a One Health approach — across Europe.”

EFSA urged national authorities to continue surveillance of wild birds and poultry and to implement control measures to prevent human contact with infected or dead birds. Member states were also advised to enforce within their high-risk areas the risk mitigation and reinforced biosecurity measures outlined in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1136.

The sharing of complete viral genome sequences is crucial so that authorities can promptly detect the emergence of novel viruses or genetic mutations with properties that are relevant for animal and public health, EFSA said.

The report was produced with the support of the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control and the European Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza.

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