Iraq’s animal health agency has confirmed that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has returned to the country’s poultry industry, and there have been new outbreaks Nepal and Taiwan.
In mid-March, the H5N8 subtype of the HPAI virus was detected in around 2,000 of the 5,000 birds at a livestock market in Basrah. According to the agriculture ministry’s report to the OIE, source of the infection was most likely the introduction of new animals, illegal movements, or from birds in transit. The last known outbreak of the disease in Iraq was in July of 2018.
Avian flu situation in Taiwan
There have been four new outbreaks of HPAI linked to the H5N2 virus variant in Taiwan, according to the latest official report from the Council for Agriculture to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
Three of these involved native chickens and geese in natural parks in the district of Beitou in Taipei, and affected a total of 47 birds. The other outbreak was confirmed after suspicious symptoms were observed in 61 native chickens at a slaughterhouse in the capital’s Wanhua district.
Further outbreaks confirmed in Nepal
In its latest report to the OIE, Nepal’s veterinary authority has confirmed a further three outbreaks of HPAI caused by the H5N1 virus. Affected were two flocks of commercial layers — totaling 32,873 birds — in the Kathmandu region of Bagmati zone, and a backyard flock of 100 birds in the Kaski district of Gandaki.
Since HPAI was detected in the district of Makwanpur in mid-February, more than 50,000 chickens, 9,000 eggs, and almost 1.5 metric tons of feed have been destroyed on 35 farms, reported The Himalayan Times last week.
In mid-March, the H5N1 HPAI virus was detected among a mass mortality of wild crows at a single location in the Kathmandu region, according to a recent official report to the OIE.
China: HPAI-linked mortality in peafowl
Around 200 Indian peafowl at Jinzhou zoo in Liaoning province died or were destroyed in mid-March. The H7N9 HPAI virus was detected in the flock — the first occurrence of the disease in birds that are not poultry, according to the agriculture ministry report to the OIE. The remaining 194 birds have been vaccinated.
Africa: Togo reports HPAI 'resolved'
The West African state has declared the previous H5N1 HPAI situation “resolved.” The last and only outbreak of the disease was in a backyard flock in the southern state of Maritime in March of last year.
