Bird flu erupts in Europe
(4 years ago)The dramatic escalation of bird flu in some European countries has resulted in the annihilation of thousands of birds. Briton “The Guardian” reports that the United Kingdom and continental Europe have been hit worse by the largest ever recorded outbreak of bird flu, which can also signal that chickens have a [...]
Briton “The Guardian” reports that the United Kingdom and continental Europe have been hit worse by the largest ever recorded outbreak of bird flu, which can also signal that chickens that have some kind of access to nature may not be produced in these countries any longer, resulting in an obvious lack of eggs in the market.
Experts say that pathogenic bird flu variants now appear to be affecting wild birds, creating an infection risk throughout the year,
In the United Kingdom, farmers have been ordered to keep their birds inside since last November. The latest reported expansion is from a farm in Suffolk last weekend, which killed more than 80,000 ducks.
“has a serious problem with cheap and external-range farms”, said Dr Guillaume Fournié, a veterinarian.
“We are seeing explosions on large [internal] bird farms that have high security. This suggests that with high environmental exposure to the virus, it is now difficult to make sure that a farm is 100% safe“.
Marion Koopmans, a virologist and adviser to the World Health Organisation, said the situation was a terrible “” for the bird industry.
“Ecology of bird flu has drastically changed in just a few years. Now we have local circulation all year round in Europe, it's not just a seasonal threat. There is a permanent presence in the population of wild birds“.
Measures to prevent the infection reaching chickens include cleaning and disinfecting, safe storage of food and water, and quarantine of the new flock. Transmission from an infected bird to a human is very rare, according to health officials, with fewer than five recorded cases in the UK, where a man was infected by ducks inside his home.