23/03/2022
Avian Influenza - Cases to date in UK and status
The number of outbreaks of H5N1 HPAI across GB to date now stands at 100 (86 in England, 5 in Wales, 9 in Scotland), with 6 in Northern Ireland, totalling 106 across the UK.
An industry wide group has been looking at four areas: farms; infected premises; bird movement; and packing centres / egg collections, to see where biosecurity changes are needed and how best to achieve the desired outcome.
Key epidemiological findings to date from this ‘AI season’ (across all poultry species)
- Only requires a small infectious dose to infect a flock
- Bird faeces has large amount of virus
- Survivability of virus in the environment can be measured in weeks
- Biosecurity failings at individual poultry house level e.g. people, bedding, dead trolley, etc
- Building maintenance not as good as it should be
- Record keeping not as good as it should be
- Records of staff movement between buildings and between sites not in place
- General mindset / cultural approach of a business towards biosecurity
