Avian flu infects 67,000 farm birds in two months and awaits autumn impact

It is the fifth event that Spain has registered for highly pathogenic avian influenza in the last decade. Avian influenza has infected 67,000 domestic birds after its reappearance in mid-July in an Extremadura farm, with a sector attentive to the autumn incidence - a time when it usually tends to increase - and with poultry farmers facing expenses of several thousand euros. Since that first outbreak in Ahillones (Badajoz) in a turkey farm, health authorities have declared six in Spain that leave a tally of 67,000 infected birds and about 44,000 culled to prevent the spread of the disease. However, these figures will be updated upwards in the coming days following the confirmation yesterday of another outbreak in a laying hen farm in Olmedo (Valladolid) with a flock of 760,000 birds. This is the fifth event that Spain has registered for highly pathogenic avian influenza in the last decade but it is still far from surpassing the impact that it had on farms starting in August 2022, ...