Cases of avian influenza declining in Europe

Europe has recorded the lowest number of highly pathogenic avian influenza cases in poultry and wild birds since 2019/2020. These are the main findings of the latest report on avian influenza by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and the EU reference laboratory (EURL), based on reported data between 16 March and 14 June 2024. The report further noted that the risk to the general public remains low. The improvement in the situation regarding the number of cases of avian influenza in Europe could be linked to several factors, which could include flock immunity acquired by certain wild bird species, depletion of some wild bird populations, reduced viral contamination of the environment, changing composition of circulating HPAI virus genotypes, and decreased detection of dead wild birds. Between 16 March and 14 June 2024, 15 HPAI outbreaks in poultry were reported from 2 countries in Europe: 8 A(H5N1) from Hungary ...