Avian flu losses mount in Europe, Asia poultry

The first outbreak of HPAI since July of 2015 has been confirmed in England. Nearly all of the flock of 2,428 housed turkeys at the farm in Louth in the county of Lincolnshire died, and the rest have been destroyed. The presence of the H5N8 virus has been confirmed, the same variant that has been affecting other parts of Europe in recent weeks. Having already called for all poultry to be kept housed, where possible, the veterinary authorities in England, Wales and Scotland have halted all poultry events, and there are additional restrictions on movements of poultry to Northern Ireland from other parts of the U.K.  Hungary has reported to the OIE a further 63 HPAI outbreaks affecting more than 377,000 poultry in the last week alone. These bring the country’s losses to almost 1.33 million birds, mostly ducks and geese, at 161 locations.