Avian flu 2022-2023

In the last few days there have been four separate recorded outbreaks of  the highly pathological H5N1 strain of avian flu in West Suffolk alone, in an area just north of Bury St Edmunds. This is getting rather close to home and we are not far out from the overlapping 10km surveillance zones imposed in each of the cases.

There have been regular cases throughout the UK during the Summer which is a new development. In the past few years as avian flu has gathered pace, we normally expect that the virus moves away with the over-wintering migrating birds that have largely been responsible for introducing the virus to the UK and Western Europe.

In the Netherlands, where they have in fact have had fewer cases than the UK, there has been much political concern to the extent that their Minister of Agriculture has recently resigned over the issue of avian flu. The Dutch Government had proposed banning  commercial poultry units in the vicinity of large expanses of open water. The Netherlands has large expanses of open water. Understandably poultry farmers there are upset.

One of the concerns that has arisen in the Netherlands, and no doubt here too, is that despite strict biosecurity measures the virus still finds its way in to poultry units. It appears that it doesn't take much for the virus to gain access and transmit. A trace of affected bird droppings finding its way in, drips of rainwater running off a roof through a gap, or the activities of rodents, appear to be able to circumvent the tightest of preventative measures.

What appears to be more prevalent this Summer, if I understand correctly, is that the avian flu virus is becoming endemic within indigenous wild bird populations, and there have been outbreaks among wild bird in nature reserves this Summer, for example. It is also known that the virus can infect mammals, including rats, which can contribute to spreading it around. There have also been cases of humans being infected. With COVID still prevalent and rising concern over Monkey Pox, the last thing we need is for another zoonotic epidemic. In the case of avian flu it is worth noting that, according to the Pirbright Institute, all four of the worldwide human influenza pandemics in the last 100 years originated from birds.

The general expectation is that there will be another avian flu lockdown and poultry keepers will need to keep their birds housed again over Winter. Over the Summer I have been steadily putting in place improved arrangements on our smallholding in anticipation to accommodate something in the region of 100 birds we currently keep. This should make life more comfortable and practical for the birds and for us should higher level restrictions be re-imposed.

However, the number of cases we are already experiencing in September, before the migratory season is fully underway, would usually be enough to trigger restrictions. Such nationwide restrictions have an economic impact so the current government's anti-regulatory stance and all-out striving for 'growth' could see a different policy approach. This might tip the scales away from containment (and dare I say public protection) in favour of economic outcomes. A tricky balancing act we have become familiar with in the last couple of years.  

Avian influenza virus, courtesy of Pirbright Institute.