News Agency Brussels, October 23 What is the impact of the bird flu wave in Europe?

Newspapers journalist

Recently, the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in many European countries, France, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries have raised the risk of avian influenza outbreaks and issued preventive control orders, the outbreak situation is concerned.

How severe this breakdown is.

According to the latest report released by the World Organization for Animal Health on October 15th, the scale of avian influenza outbreaks in Europe rose sharply in September. Compared with last month, the number of animal cases increased from 759 to more than 60,000, and the number of poultry losses (deaths and culling) increased from 291 to about 330,000. Among them, the situation in Germany, Spain, France and other places is more serious.

On the evening of the 22nd, Belgium reported an outbreak of avian influenza in the country. So far, 319 poultry have died and more than 60,000 have been culled. The Belgian Food Safety Authority has ordered that all poultry must remain indoors from now on. The day before, France upgraded the country's avian influenza risk level from "intermediate" to "advanced" and strengthened relevant safety and preventive measures in poultry farms. France has reported four outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry farms since the 10th of this month.

On the 20th, the Friedrich Lovler Institute in charge of animal health in Germany released a report saying that the epidemic risk level in the country's poultry farms has been raised from "low" to "high". Since October, more than 15 poultry farms across Germany have reported outbreaks, much higher than the four outbreaks reported in September.

The most severe outbreak of avian influenza in the Spanish autonomous region of Castilla-Leone is in the province of Valladolid. Data released by the Spanish Central Veterinary Laboratory show that six outbreaks have occurred in the province since September 19, affecting more than 2 million birds.

The Portuguese Food and Veterinary Administration¡¯s latest report shows that a total of seven bird flu outbreaks have been confirmed in Portugal since September, with the outbreak of a duck farm in the district of St. Taren on September 2 affecting 250,000 poultry and killing thousands of birds.

How can countries respond urgently

Currently, culling infected poultry and restricting the movement of poultry are the main response plans of countries after an avian influenza outbreak. France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland and other countries have all claimed to have taken such measures in a timely manner to control the spread of the epidemic.

The Dutch Food and Consumer Goods Safety Authority (FDA) announced on October 22 that a poultry farm in the province of Heidelberg had detected bird flu virus in order to prevent the outbreak from spreading, the Dutch Food and Consumer Goods Safety Authority (FDA) decided to kill approximately 16,000 poultry in the farm.

The Netherlands has also announced that from 22 onwards domestic poultry capture and isolation measures will be implemented nationwide, a transport ban within a radius of 10 kilometers from the outbreak point as the center of the outbreak, and a ban on the transportation of poultry, seed eggs, eaten eggs, poultry feces, used mattresses and other animal and animal products from farms in the region.

In recent years, European countries have strengthened their active monitoring of wild birds and poultry flu, and in addition to killing and restricting flows, vaccination programs for poultry are also strengthened to help poultry industry recover from the outbreak.

Where did the virus come from

According to the World Animal Health Organization, wild birds, especially water poultry, are natural hosts of avian influenza viruses, which are the main source of avian influenza outbreaks in poultry.

The French Ministry of Agriculture on Monday that there has been a significant increase in the recent detection of bird flu viruses in migratory birds in many European countries.Since the 10th, several locations of poultry epidemics confirmed in France are located on the Atlantic migratory passage, indicating that wild birds active on the southern passage from September to December each year are the main source of transmission of the virus to poultry.

The environmental department of the state of Brandenburg said on the 22nd that the state is experiencing the largest wild bird flu epidemic in its history, mainly affecting the caterpillar population that is migrating south, the virus spreads extremely fast, and has now confirmed more than 1,000 caterpillar deaths.

The Friedrich Lovler Institute in Germany said that wild birds infected with the virus still have the ability to fly in the early stages of the disease and may spread the virus to poultry farms on their migration path.

What impact is expected

According to the World Animal Health Organization¡¯s latest report, the number of bird flu outbreaks in poultry in September this year has reached a record high in the same month in the last two bird flu epidemic cycles, and the number of outbreaks is expected to rise further in the coming months.

The environmental department of the German state of Brandenburg predicts that as migratory birds migrate southwest, the epidemic may further spread in countries such as France and Spain, and the number of poultry deaths will rise rapidly. Relevant Dutch authorities said that the spread of avian influenza is highly unpredictable and the development of the epidemic needs to be closely monitored.

In addition, a bird flu outbreak will affect the survival of some rare birds in the wild. For example, only about 100 endangered species of giants remain in Germany.

The European News Network that avian influenza threatens poultry industry and related trade. For example, Morocco has suspended imports of poultry, eggs and their derivatives from Portugal since September, and the duration of the policy will depend on the development of the epidemic.

Can it infect humans?

The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement on October 17 saying that transmission of avian influenza virus to humans is rare and no continuous human-to-human transmission has been observed. Overall, the risk of zoonotic avian influenza among ordinary people in the EU and the European Economic Area is low.

The Spanish health ministry said current evidence suggests that the bird flu virus does not spread to humans through cooked poultry, eggs or their processed products.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's disease control agency, said that avian influenza can only be transmitted from animals to humans in rare cases, mainly in groups of close contact with infected or dead poultry, such as farm workers or veterinarians. Direct contact with sick or dead birds should be avoided.