The government has introduced stronger biocontrol measures to prevent the spread of avian flu. On Tuesday, Defra announced that gatherings and auctions involving poultry will be suspended in light of an outbreak of high pathogenicity H5N8 flu on a turkey farm in Lincolnshire last week.

The temporary ban on events covers all birds at a higher risk of contracting or spreading bird flu,  including chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese. The ban on gatherings does not apply to pigeons or aviary birds, which Defra officials said are at much lower risk of passing the disease to domestic poultry.  

Defra’s chief vet and the devolved governments have announced that a prevention zone is now in place over all England, Scotland and Wales; bird keepers must take all possible measures to limit contact between wild and kept birds. The prevention zone and new biosecurity measures will be reviewed on 6th January.

In a statement on Tuesday, Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens said, “While we have seen no further cases of bird flu following the outbreak in Lincolnshire, we must continue to be vigilant and do all we can to protect against this highly pathogenic strain of the disease. This ban on gatherings is a proportionate step that will help protect our farmers and bird keepers from seeing their flocks infected with this disease that can have a devastating impact on poultry.

“The risk to human health continues to be very low and there is no impact on the food chain, but infection at a gathering could lead to rapid dispersal of infection to kept birds in many locations. Our Avian Influenza Prevention Zone remains in place across the country and anyone who has regular contact with birds should stay alert for signs of disease, maintain the highest biosecurity standards and take all reasonable steps to minimise contact between poultry and wild birds.”

H5N8 flu has been circulating in mainland Europe for a number of weeks now, and there have been more outbreaks on farms in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary and Poland in the last two weeks.

In Lincolnshire, officials have established a 3 km surveillance zone and 10 km protection zone around the affected farm. To date, this is the only outbreak in the UK. Authorities were only notified two days after the infection was detected, and most birds succumbed to the virus, though the remaining turkeys at the farm were killed on 17th December.

Defra’s newly announced restrictions mirror strict measures introduced in France just days before the country’s first case of H5N8 was detected in semi-wild birds in the Nord Pas de Calais region. Since then, there have been 32 outbreaks on farms in Southern France, and four cases reported in wild birds. There is evidence that the spread of bird flu within France has occurred from farm-to-farm, and some of the cases appear to have spread out from the disease control and surveillance zones set up by French authorities in response to the earliest outbreaks.  

In its latest update on the bird flu situation in Europe, the government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) noted that “Epidemiological investigations are continuing into the source of disease [at the Lincolnshire farm] and potential spread to other kept birds.”

In light of the outbreak on UK soil this week, APHA has upped the avian flu risk level from ‘Medium’ to ‘High’.  Public Health England maintains that the risk to public health from the virus is very low.

The chief vet’s advice to bird keepers to report suspected disease immediately and maintain high biosecurity standards by:

• Reducing the movement of people, vehicles or equipment to and from areas where poultry or captive birds are kept
• Taking precautions to avoid the transfer of contamination by cleansing and disinfection of equipment, vehicles and footwear
• Making sure that feed and water can’t be accessed by wild birds
• Implementing effective vermin control programmes around buildings where poultry or captive birds are kept