KBDB: 5-11-24 Announcement FAVV: Avian Influenza – Status Update
The avian influenza season 2024-2025 has now commenced.
In the past weeks, the first new infections have been detected among wild birds along our coast.
As the maps from the European reporting system ADIS in the attachment indicate, several infections have also been found along the migration routes that pass through our country, both in wild birds and on poultry farms, including in Poland, Germany, France, and Spain:
map 1: poultry and kept birds https://www.kbdb.be/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/kaart-carte-1.png
map 2: wild birds https://www.kbdb.be/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/kaart-carte-2.png
It is expected that the infection pressure will systematically increase in the coming weeks. Due to the worsening conditions north of our country, more and more migratory birds will head south. It is impossible to predict exactly how high the infection pressure around our poultry farms will be as a result. In any case, the weather conditions in autumn (cool temperatures, damp and misty weather) allow avian influenza viruses to survive longer in the environment and increase the risk of incursion into the barns.
I therefore call on everyone to sharpen biosecurity on and around poultry farms and to strictly apply all necessary preventive measures to prevent incursion. Biosecurity is only as strong as the weakest link on the farm. In this regard, I draw attention to the newsletter regarding the mandatory annual biosecurity survey that was distributed yesterday: https://www.static.favv.be/newsletters-vt-da/newsletter479_nl.asp.
The FAVV is currently assessing whether the general preventive measures for avian influenza need to be scaled up again. It is being evaluated whether the confinement of birds on poultry farms and with traders should be reintroduced in the short term and whether the unloading regulations need to be tightened again.
All relevant information can still be found on the FAVV website: https://favv-afsca.be/nl/themas/dieren/dierengezondheid/dierziekten/vogelgriep.