World: Commentary from Rosselkhoznadzor on the once again worsening situation with avian influenza in Europe, South and North America

The most catastrophic epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza 2021-2022 in the history of the spread of the virus and, as it seemed to be declining in early 2023, is apparently returning again. Predominant in the 2020–2021 epidemic season. subtype A (H5N8) was replaced by the more aggressive subtype A (H5N1) in the summer of 2021. As a result, by the end of 2022, more than 9 thousand outbreaks were registered in wild and poultry populations in 41 European countries, and losses amounted to 69 million birds. A distinctive feature of this virus is its unprecedented mortality rate for wild birds, as well as its ability to infect various species of mammals. In the spring of this year, the number of outbreaks began to decline, but with the beginning of autumn, the introduction of the disease into personal plots and industrial enterprises again began to be recorded in Western countries. On October 6, the first case of avian influenza in a commercial poultry plant since April was ...