FAO warns new bird flu strain in Europe poses threat to poultry in low-resourced countries

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned that a new bird flu strain detected in Europe poses a significant threat to the poultry sector.

The strain would pose a threat especially in low-resourced countries situated along the Black Sea and East Atlantic migratory routes of wild birds.

This was contained in a statement released by the FAO in New York, United States of America on Monday.

The FAO said that Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom had confirmed the new avian influenza virus strain H5N8 in poultry farms, and German authorities had also found the virus in a wild bird.

It recalled that earlier this year, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea reported outbreaks of H5N8 in poultry, as well as findings in migratory birds and waterfowl.

It added that the fact that the virus had now been found within a very short time interval in three European countries, both in a wild bird and in three very different poultry production systems.

That suggested that wild birds might have played a role in spreading the virus, experts from the FAO and World Organisation for Animal Health have said.

It added that H5N8 had thus far not been confirmed to infect people.

However, the FAO said it was highly pathogenic for domestic poultry, causing significant mortality in chickens and turkeys.

The virus, it added, could also infect wild birds, which showed little signs of illness.

It was known from other influenza viruses that wild birds are able to carry the virus long distances, the agency explained.

If poultry systems with low-biosecurity conditions became infected in countries with limited veterinary preparedness, it stated, the virus could spread through farms with devastating effects, both on vulnerable livelihoods as well as on country’s economies and trade.

The FAO emphasised that the best way for countries to safeguard against those impacts was to encourage better biosecurity and to maintain surveillance systems that detected outbreaks early and enabled veterinary services to respond rapidly.

Specifically, the  FAO and OIE are recommending at-risk countries to increase surveillance efforts for the early detection of H5N8 and other influenza viruses.

They should also maintain and further strengthen the rapid-response capacities of veterinary services; reinforce biosecurity measures, with particular emphasis on minimising contact between domestic poultry and wild birds.

Others are to raise the awareness of hunters and other individuals who might come into contact with wildlife in order to provide early information on sick or dead wild birds.

The new strain of avian influenza had not resulted in human cases, FAO noted.

It is nevertheless related to the H5N1 virus, which is known to have spread from Asia into Europe and Africa in 2005 and 2006, and has caused the deaths of nearly 400 people and hundreds of millions of poultry to date.