Diverse avian flu strains hit UK, Taiwan, South Africa
Robert Roos
CIDRAP News
Jul 13, 2015
Several varieties of avian influenza viruses have recently struck farms in the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and South Africa, affecting poultry species ranging from chickens to ostriches, according to reports today.
In addition, Minnesota officials said recently that a chickadee tested positive for an avian flu virus, but they couldn’t determine if it was the highly pathogenic H5N2 virus that hit 108 turkey and chicken farms in the state this past spring.
H7N7 reported in England
In the United Kingdom, a highly pathogenic H7N7 virus struck a farm in the northwestern English county of Lancashire, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The agency announced the outbreak Jul 10 and confirmed today that the virus is H7N7. The statement didn’t identify the type of poultry involved, but a Daily Mail story today said 170,000 chickens and turkeys were being euthanized at a farm near the village of Goosnargh.
DEFRA imposed a 3-kilometer protection zone and a 10-kilometer surveillance zone around the outbreak. Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens said humane culling of the birds is progressing. Meanwhile, Public Health England said the H7N7 strain poses very little risk to humans.
The last previous H7N7 outbreak reported in the UK involved a low-pathogenic strain that surfaced in Hampshire, on England’s southern coast, in February, according to previous CIDRAP News reports.
Taiwan battles H5N2 again
Taiwan has had three more in a long series of highly pathogenic H5N2 outbreaks that began in January, authorities told the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in a report today.
The outbreaks involve a chicken farm in Changhua county and a turkey farm in Yunlin county, both in the west-central part of the island, and a goose farm in the southwestern city of Kaohsiung, the report said.
The virus killed 5,527 of 25,640 birds on the three farms, and the rest have already been culled to prevent any further spread, the report said. The farms have been cleaned and disinfected, and other farms within 3 kilometers will be under special surveillance for 3 months.
Ostrich farms hit in South Africa
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