Avian influenza: bird flu and avian flu
Through this page, you can stay up to date about the latest developments on avian influenza. Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WVBR) takes care of diagnostics in the Netherlands.
Spread of bird flu in the Netherlands
Purple = poultry farms
Red = wild birds
Blue = hobby birds
There can be a few days delay between positive tests and map updates
What is avian influenza?
Bird flu or avian influenza (AI) is a collective term for different influenza viruses that may be dangerous to poultry. Especially chickens, turkeys, waterfowl, waders, beach birds, ratites and starlings are susceptible to avian influenza, with possible lethal consequences. Avian influenza has two variants: a mild and a hazardous variant. Most viruses are the mild variant, known as low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI). Birds that have been infected with this variant exhibit few disease symptoms. However, the mild form of H5 or H7 bird flu may also change into the highly contagious variant, known as high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). It is for this reason that companies are also culled in the case of an outbreak of a mild variant H5 or H7 bird flu.
Can avian flu affect humans?
In some cases people – and other mammals like pigs and foxes – can become infected. This can happen if there is direct and extensive contact between infected animals and humans. Some variants of avian flu can be transmitted to humans (zoonosis). The symptoms of avian influenza in humans are very mild in most cases.
The most dangerous type of avian influenza, fowl pest (HPAI) forms a public health risk. Direct contact with infected poultry may lead to severe infections in humans. Serious or even fatal infections have only been reported in exceptional cases. This happened for example after infection with the HPAI H5N1 virus in Asia in 1997 and 2004, with a HPAI H7N7 in the Netherlands in 2003 and recent years with a LPAI H7N9 virus in China.
There is a fear that the virus will change to make it easily transmissible among humans. This could lead to a worldwide influenza epidemic; a pandemic. Previous flu pandemics were the Spanish flu (1918), with an estimated 40 million deaths worldwide, the Asian flu (1957-58) and the Hong Kong flu (1968) with 2 to 3 million victims each.
How does avian flu spread?
The chance of the virus spreading via migratory birds represents a continuous and unpredictable risk. Free-range poultry farms are at greater risk of an avian influenza infection, because the poultry can come into direct contact with potentially infected wild birds and waterfowl. Besides this, (illegal) import of pet birds poses a danger. The chance of avian flu reaching the Netherlands through the import of poultry, poultry products or hatching eggs, is limited.
Birds, including poultry, can catch bird flu in several ways:
- Through direct contact with infected birds; the virus can be spread through the respiratory system, eye fluids and droppings
- Through contaminated materials such as food, crates, vehicles and people who have been in contact with the virus through their shoes or clothing
- Via dust from a contaminated coop (spread through the air)
Can poultry farmers take measures to prevent infection?
It is impossible to prevent the infection of wild birds. However, farmers can take a large number of measures to decrease the risks of potential contamination.
The virus can be kept from affecting stables by putting in place bio-safety measures. Implementing and following up these measures requires perseverance and strict discipline. Businesses such as breeding farms that are higher up in the pyramid, generally invest more in bio-safety. These companies are seldom affected by avian flu.
Farms that allow chickens to roam outside and interact with their surroundings, pose a far more significant challenge in preventing infection.
Within the European Union legislation exists to prevent avian influenza from being introduced or spread via infected poultry or transport.
Vaccination of poultry is possible but there are many snags to it. It is costly, difficult to organise and tied to permits. Some buyers of Dutch poultry products (including Germany) do not want products from vaccinated animals.
How did bird flu affect the Netherlands in 2017?
In late 2016 and early 2017, besides wild birds, several poultry farms and household flocks were found to be infected with the highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza. Research has shown that these H5N8 bird flu infections were linked to wild migratory birds from Russia. And it has also been shown that the H5N8 virus can multiply in the intestines as well as the respiratory tract of wild birds.
H5N8 bird flu in the intestines
The H5N8 bird flu virus caused major deaths among wild birds in the Netherlands in 2016-2017. A joint study by Wageningen Bioveterinary Research and Erasmus MC shows that this highly pathogenic virus can multiply in the intestines of at least four different species of wild birds (the wigeon, tufted duck, black-headed gull and magpie). This in contrast to the previously highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, which could only multiply in the respiratory tract of wild birds. The H5N8 virus therefore resembles low pathogenic viruses that occur naturally in wild birds and are known to multiply in both the respiratory tract and intestines.
Avian Influenza viruses are transmitted when waterfowl forage in water contaminated with feces from infected birds. The H5N8 virus may have been able to spread better in the wild bird population, because the virus multiplies in the intestines and therefore more virus was probably present in the feces of infected birds.
Read the full article in Veterinary Research (September 2020)
What research on avian flu does WBVR do?
Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) is the designated institute where the diagnosis of the disease avian influenza is performed. We perform laboratory tests to see if the virus is present and run diagnostics on samples of poultry from locations where a suspicion of the disease is present. We also examine wild birds and waterfowl in order to rule out avian influenza as a cause of the birds’ death. The goal is to identify the disease as early as possible and then check the poultry kept in the neighbouring areas.
WBVR studied the origin of avian flu by analysing the genetics of new strains in the Netherlands. Comparative studies are done to investigate whether individual cases on different farms show similarities or differences, to map the transmission route. Furthermore, WBVR studies the introduction of avian flu on poultry farms in general, and free-range farms in particular, in the Netherlands. We also test new methods to keep wild (aquatic) birds away from the enclosures.
The Netherlands has operated a monitoring program since the HPAI H7N7 outbreak in 2003. Domestic poultry, but also wild birds, are regularly checked for antibodies to the virus by WBVR. In this way, it is possible to discover avian influenza at an early stage and limit the spread of the virus (early warning programs).
WBVR can also test if desinfectants are able to inactivate the avian influenza virus.
Publications
2021
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Quantitative risk assessment of the introduction of low pathogenic avian influenza H5 and H7 strains into Poland via legal import of live poultry
Preventive Veterinary Medicine 189 (2021). - ISSN 0167-5877 -
Comparative pathogenicity and environmental transmission of recent highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 virusus
Emerging Microbes and Infections 10 (2021)1. - ISSN 2222-1751 - p. 97 - 108.
2020
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Understanding the Motivation of Western Java Smallholder Broiler Farmers to Uptake Measures Against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)
Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7 (2020). - ISSN 2297-1769 -
Trade-off between local transmission and long-range dispersal drives infectious disease outbreak size in spatially structured populations
PLoS Computational Biology 16 (2020)7. - ISSN 1553-734X -
The role of farm business type on biosecurity practices in West Java broiler farms
Preventive Veterinary Medicine 176 (2020). - ISSN 0167-5877 -
The evolutionary dynamics of LPAI H9N2 virus circulating in vaccinated and unvaccinated poultry
In: Wias Annual Conference 2020. - : WIAS - p. 67 - 67. -
Something wicked this way comes: How well did UK newspapers support the public debate of Avian Influenza as a wicked problem?
Journalism (2020). - ISSN 1464-8849 -
Selection and antigenic characterization of immune-escape mutants of H7N2 low pathogenic avian influenza virus using homologous polyclonal sera
Virus Research 290 (2020). - ISSN 0168-1702 -
Seasonal risk of low pathogenic avian influenza virus introductions into free-range layer farms in the Netherlands
Transboundary and Emerging Diseases (2020). - ISSN 1865-1674 -
Risicoanalyse voor introductie van hoog pathogene aviaire influenza in de Nederlandse commerciële pluimveehouderij
Lelystad : Wageningen Bioveterinary Research - p. -
Risicoanalyse voor introductie van hoog pathogene aviaire influenza in de Nederlandse commerciële pluimveehouderij
Lelystad : Wageningen Bioveterinary Research - p. -
Risicoanalyse voor introductie van hoog pathogene aviaire influenza in de Nederlandse commerciële pluimveehouderij
Lelystad : Wageningen Bioveterinary Research - p.
2019
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Virus Shedding of Avian Influenza in Poultry: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Viruses 11 (2019)9. - ISSN 1999-4915 -
The development of a multiplex serological assay for avian influenza based on Luminex technology
Methods : a companion to Methods in enzymology 158 (2019). - ISSN 1046-2023 - p. 54 - 60. -
The Trade-Off Between Chicken Welfare and Public Health Risks in Poultry Husbandry: Significance of Moral Convictions
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 32 (2019)2. - ISSN 1187-7863 - p. 293 - 319. -
Susceptibility of Chickens to Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) Viruses of Wild Bird- and Poultry-Associated Subtypes
Viruses 11 (2019)11. - ISSN 1999-4915 -
Spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N5 Viruses in Europe in 2016-2017 Appears Related to the Timing of Reassortment Events
Viruses 11 (2019)6. - ISSN 1999-4915 -
Risicoanalyse voor introductie van hoog pathogene aviaire influenza in de Nederlandse commerciële pluimveehouderij
Lelystad : Wageningen Bioveterinary Research - p. -
Reassortments among avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses circulating in Indonesia, 2015-2016
Emerging Infectious Diseases 25 (2019)3. - ISSN 1080-6040 - p. 465 - 472. -
Onderbouwing DGF-plafonds 2020/2024
Wageningen : Wageningen Economic Research (Wageningen Economic Research report 2019-046) - ISBN 9789463439657 - p. -
Limited changes in the fecal microbiome composition of laying hens after oral inoculation with wild duck feces
Poultry Science 98 (2019)12. - ISSN 0032-5791 - p. 6542 - 6551. -
Highly pathogenic avian influenza a(H5n1) outbreaks in West Java Indonesia 2015–2016: Clinical manifestation and associated risk factors
Microorganisms 7 (2019)9. - ISSN 2076-2607
2018
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What drives the choice of poultry market channel and the change of purchase behavior due to highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks?
Poultry Science 97 (2018)10. - ISSN 0032-5791 - p. 3652 - 3660. -
Spatial transmission of H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza between Minnesota poultry premises during the 2015 outbreak
PLoS ONE 13 (2018)9. - ISSN 1932-6203 -
Similar transmissibility of the Italian H7N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus and its low pathogenic avian influenza virus predecessor
The Veterinary Journal 232 (2018). - ISSN 1090-0233 - p. 20 - 22. -
Serologic evidence of West Nile virus and Usutu virus infections in Eurasian coots in the Netherlands
Zoonoses and Public Health 65 (2018)1. - ISSN 1863-1959 - p. 96 - 102. -
Risk perceptions of public health and food safety hazards in poultry husbandry by citizens, poultry farmers and poultry veterinarians
Poultry Science 97 (2018)2. - ISSN 0032-5791 - p. 607 - 619. -
Risk of poultry compartments for transmission of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
PLoS ONE 14 (2018)2. - ISSN 1932-6203 -
Risicoanalyse voor introductie van hoog pathogene aviaire influenza in de Nederlandse commerciële pluimveehouderij
Lelystad : Wageningen Bioveterinary Research - p. -
Risicoanalyse voor introductie van hoog pathogene aviaire influenza in de Nederlandse commerciële pluimveehouderij
Lelystad : Wageningen Bioveterinary Research - p. -
Passive inhalation of dry powder influenza vaccine formulations completely protects chickens against H5N1 lethal viral challenge
European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics 133 (2018). - ISSN 0939-6411 - p. 85 - 95. -
Novel highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N6) virus in the Netherlands, december 2017
Emerging Infectious Diseases 24 (2018)4. - ISSN 1080-6040 - p. 770 - 773.
2017
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Veterinary Molecular Diagnostics
In: Molecular Diagnostics Part 2: Clinical, Veterinary, Agrobotanical and Food Safety Applications / , van Pelt-Verkuil, E., van Leeuwen, W.B., te Witt, R.. - : Springer - ISBN 9789811045110 - p. 219 - 234. -
Self-assembled star-shaped chiroplasmonic gold nanoparticles for an ultrasensitive chiro-immunosensor for viruses
RSC Advances : An international journal to further the chemical sciences 7 (2017)65. - ISSN 2046-2069 - p. 40849 - 40857. -
Risk for low pathogenicity avian influenza virus on poultry farms, The Netherlands, 2007–2013
Emerging Infectious Diseases 23 (2017)9. - ISSN 1080-6040 - p. 1510 - 1516. -
On the role of vaccine dose and antigenic distance in the transmission dynamics of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus and its selected mutants in vaccinated animals
Wageningen University. Promotor(en): M.C.M. Jong, co-promotor(en): B. Peeters. - Wageningen : Wageningen University - ISBN 9789463438063 - p. -
No evidence that migratory geese disperse avian influenza viruses from breeding to wintering ground
PLoS ONE 12 (2017)5. - ISSN 1932-6203 - 11 p. -
Multiple reassorted viruses as cause of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) virus epidemic, the Netherlands, 2016
Emerging Infectious Diseases 23 (2017)12. - ISSN 1080-6040 - p. 1966 - 1973. -
Genetic versus antigenic differences among highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza A viruses : Consequences for vaccine strain selection
Virology 503 (2017). - ISSN 0042-6822 - p. 83 - 93. -
Discordant detection of avian influenza virus subtypes in time and space between poultry and wild birds; Towards improvement of surveillance programs
PLoS ONE 12 (2017)3. - ISSN 1932-6203 -
Different cross protection scopes of two avian influenza H5N1 vaccines against infection of layer chickens with a heterologous highly pathogenic virus
Research in Veterinary Science 114 (2017). - ISSN 0034-5288 - p. 143 - 152. -
Deaths among wild birds during highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) virus outbreak, the Netherlands
Emerging Infectious Diseases 23 (2017)12. - ISSN 1080-6040 - p. 2050 - 2054.
2016
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Southward autumn migration of waterfowl facilitates cross-continental transmission of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus
Scientific Reports 6 (2016). - ISSN 2045-2322 -
Role of vaccination-induced immunity and antigenic distance in the transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1.
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface 13 (2016)114. - ISSN 1742-5689 - 13 p. -
Role for migratory wild birds in the global spread of avian influenza H5N8
Science 354 (2016)6309. - ISSN 0036-8075 - p. 213 - 217. -
Quantifying potential sources of surface water contamination with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli
Water Research 101 (2016). - ISSN 0043-1354 - p. 36 - 45. -
Mutations in the haemagglutinin protein and their effect in transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus in sub-optimally vaccinated chickens
Vaccine 34 (2016)46. - ISSN 0264-410X - p. 5512 - 5518. -
Modelling the innate immune response against avian influenza virus in chicken
PLoS ONE 11 (2016)6. - ISSN 1932-6203 -
Lack of virological and serological evidence for continued circulation of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 virus in wild birds in the Netherlands, 14 November 2014 to 31 January 2016
Eurosurveillance 21 (2016)38. - ISSN 1025-496X - 11 p. -
H7N9 live attenuated influenza vaccine is highly immunogenic, prevents virus replication, and protects against severe bronchopneumonia in ferrets
Molecular Therapy 24 (2016)5. - ISSN 1525-0016 - p. 991 - 1002. -
Ethical promises and pitfalls of OneHealth
Public Health Ethics 9 (2016)1. - ISSN 1754-9973 - p. 1 - 4. -
Avian Influenza in The Netherlands - Disease control and animal welfare
2015
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Wind-mediated spread of low-pathogenic avian influenza virus into the environment during outabreaks at commercial poultry farms
PLoS ONE 10 (2015)5. - ISSN 1932-6203 - 15 p. -
Role of Vaccination-Induced Immunity and Antigenic Distance in Transmission Dynamics Investigated Using Highly Pathogenic Avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 Virus Escape Mutants
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Role of Vaccination-Induced Immunity and Antigenic Distance in Transmission Dynamics Investigated Using Highly Pathogenic Avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 Virus Escape Mutants
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Risicofactoren voor introductie van laag-pathogeen aviare influenza virus op legpluimveebedrijven met vrije uitloop in Nederland
Lelystad : Central Veterinary Institute, onderdeel van Wageningen UR (CVI rapport / Centraal Veterinair Instituut 15/CVI0078) - p. -
Risico van introductie van laag-pathogene aviaire influenza virus infecties op verschillende typen pluimveebedrijven in Nederland, 2007-2013: ruimtelijke, omgevings- en productie-typen factoren
: Central Veterinary Institute, onderdeel van Wageningen UR -
Phylogenetic analysis of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N8) virus outbreak strains provides evidence for four separate introductions and one between-poultry farm transmission in the Netherlands, November 2014
Eurosurveillance 20 (2015)26. - ISSN 1025-496X -
Learning to live with bird flu
Learning to live with bird flu, Wageningen world 3 p.16-19, 2015-09-01, Rik Nijland, https://edepot.wur.nl/453950 -
Full-genome sequence of influenza A(H5N8) virus in poultry linked to sequences of strains from Asia, the Netherlands, 2014
Emerging Infectious Diseases 21 (2015)5. - ISSN 1080-6040 - p. 872 - 874. -
Controlling highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks : An epidemiological and economic model analysis
Preventive Veterinary Medicine 121 (2015)1-2. - ISSN 0167-5877 - p. 142 - 150. -
Antibody response and risk factors for seropositvity in backyard poultry following mass vaccination against highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease in Indonesia
Epidemiology and Infection 143 (2015)8. - ISSN 0950-2688 - p. 1632 - 1642.