Biggest Ever Outbreak Of Bird Flu In UK

Already this winter season the Animal and Plant Health Agency have diagnosed more cases than in any previous UK outbreak. Bird ‘flu season is upon us once again with 55 cases of high pathogenicity H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) cases having been confirmed on sites across Great Britain (GB) at the time of writing. A GB wide avian influenza (AI) prevention zone to reduce risk of spread from wild birds to poultry was imposed on 3 November followed by the requirement to house all poultry on 29 November. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has been at the heart of the response, from a science perspective, providing all the testing and diagnoses, offering the science evidence in order for disease confirmation and undertaking the epidemiological response to the disease in the field. All these activities support decisions to enable fast and effective control. Surveillance has also started to begin the process for GB becoming disease free again. In this blog, learn how APHA has responded to this emergency and actions you can take to help. APHA have rapidly assembled expert Virologists, Epidemiologists, Pathologists, Veterinarians, field staff, Risk Analysts and Scientific Project managers to coordinate our scientific response to help stop further spread of this disease. We are testing round the clock seven days a week with enhanced capacity, to meet the rapid increase in cases. APHA maintains UK National Reference Laboratory (RL) status for 49 diseases, of which 23 are international status. These reference laboratories cover a wide range of animal health science specialisms, including AI. Through these RLs we provide specialist disease testing capability and we have been working with international colleagues to track the new AI viruses as they travel across Eurasia to the UK. At the time of publication, the risk of incursion in wild birds in the UK is very high, with the risk in captive birds (including poultry), either medium (where good biosecurity on premises is applied to keep infection out) or high (where biosecurity on premises is below the required standard). From a food safety perspective, this risk remains very low to UK consumers. The risk to public health is very low. Source: Animal and Plant Health Agency