EFSA reports bird flu still spreading and warns it “may increase in the coming months”

14 Mar 2023 --- The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reports “new outbreaks in birds and occasional infections in mammals” but notes that the risk to the public is low. However, the report notes that the poultry infection risk “may increase” in the coming months.

Generally, the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses has decreased. The latest  report notes that the number of outbreaks in poultry between December 2022 and March 2023 in the EU fell from its high point in November 2022.  

Of the new outbreaks, the report highlights an “increase of cases in wild birds, particularly in gulls,” flagging that abnormal mass mortality in gulls was observed in countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. 

The risk of increased infection to poultry comes from the potential of infected gulls moving inland and overlapping with poultry production areas. The EFSA and EURL currently recommend that prevention strategies be implemented in these areas.

This latest report was conducted with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the EU reference laboratory (EURL).

The report reassures that the virus poses a very low risk to the public.Risk to mammals
Similar mass mortality events in mammals like sea lions have been observed. This may “suggest a potential transmission among mammals of the HPAI virus,” according to the report.

As such, EFSA and EURL also recommend “extending and enhancing surveillance to wild and farmed mammals, particularly American mink and pigs,” in areas where HPAI is present.

The EFSA acknowledges that despite reports of HPAI in humans leading to death, humans are rarely infected. Of those infected, almost all were reported as relating to people not wearing protective equipment while being exposed to sick or dead poultry.

ECDC also notes that the circulating HPAI viruses are vulnerable to antiviral medicines available to humans and that these viruses “preferentially bind to avian-like receptors present in birds and not to human-like receptors.”

As such, the ECDC assesses that risk to the European public “remains low,” while those regularly exposed to infected or dead birds are at “low to moderate” risk.

Flu troublesThe EFSA is reporting continued outbreaks of avian flu, especially among gulls.
The spread and impact of avian flu remains widespread, with the food industry still reeling from catastrophic losses of staggering amounts of poultry. 

Egg shortages in Japan due to the flu have caused egg prices to skyrocket. As a result, 18 listed restaurant chain operators have temporarily stopped selling any menu items which include eggs as of this Sunday, according to Teikoku Databank. These companies include McDonalds, 7-Eleven, and Kewpie – a manufacturer of mayonnaise.

This trend is following suit with similar hikes in the US, where earlier this year the US Department of Agriculture reported that the combined regional large egg weekly average price reached US$5.4 for a dozen eggs in December, up from US$1.4 in March 2022 and from the three-year average that fluctuated around US$1.

This came after a call for the sector to shore up its protection for birds over the winter to combat the virus’s spread, with the US stock of Thanksgiving turkeys barely meeting demand.

Similar demand for ever-popular chicken wings remained high during SuperBowl LVII, with the market accelerating this year despite the flu, with 58.37 million birds culled in the country, according to US health authorities.

By James Davies

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