“Decrease in Highly Pathogenic Bird Flu Outbreaks in Europe: EFSA, ECDC, & ERAD Joint Publication”

The number of outbreaks of highly pathogenic variants of bird flu in poultry in Europe has decreased over the past two months. In nature, seagulls are particularly hard hit by the virus. The risk of people in Europe becoming infected remains low. This is what the European Food Safety Authority EFSA, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC and the European Reference Laboratory for Animal Diseases write in a joint publication.

There were significantly fewer bird flu outbreaks on poultry farms in the months of March and April than in the period from December to February. There were also fewer outbreaks compared to the same period in 2022.

In wild birds, there was also a decrease in outbreaks compared to the previous reporting period, but the number of outbreaks was higher than in the spring of 2022. Black-headed gulls are badly affected. Mortality among endangered species such as the peregrine falcon also increased.

The risk of infection for humans in Europe remains low and this risk is low to moderate for people who come into contact with potentially infected and dead animals, such as poultry farmers and veterinarians.

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