H5N8 bird flu has "landed" in Europe

(Baonghean) - The H5N8 bird flu virus has appeared for the first time in Europe. The European Commission has had to declare emergency measures to prevent the outbreak from spreading across the continent.

A duck farm in Nafferton, England.

Strict measures have been taken in the UK and the Netherlands as part of the European general avian influenza response since 2005. Specifically: destroying all poultry at farms and slaughterhouses, consumption points confirmed to be infected with the virus; establishing quarantine zones, banning the export of poultry products such as meat, eggs, farming tools, animal waste within a radius depending on the density of poultry at the quarantine point and surrounding areas. In Germany - where the above measures have been applied since November 6, the situation is reported to be "restored to normal", according to the European Commission.

The Netherlands has been even more cautious, ordering a "complete freeze on the poultry industry" in the country. Poultry and eggs are banned from moving throughout the country until the ban is lifted. "The Dutch want to avoid a repeat of the tragedy of the 2003 bird flu (H5N7) outbreak, which resulted in the culling of 25 million chickens and the death of a veterinarian," a European source explained. Virus samples from the first outbreaks are now being studied at a European laboratory in Weybridge, near London. The latest information from the European Commission said: "The H5 virus sample in the UK is similar to the H5N8 sample found in the Netherlands and Germany."

Regarding the way the virus spreads, Brussels considers the most feasible hypothesis to be through the droppings of wild swans. The hosts carrying this benign virus (H5N8 does not harm swans) are migrating from the North to the South of Europe. The European Commission warns: "It would not be surprising if more outbreaks were detected in Belgium and France, on the wintering route of migratory birds." However, it is also believed that the risk of a major outbreak is very low. H5N8 is particularly dangerous in poultry and is still causing disease in China and South Korea, but there have been no cases of human infection. Mr. Vincent Enouf, virologist and Deputy Director of the National Center for Influenza Virus Research, Pasteur Institute, commented: "European countries that have detected outbreaks all have adequate means to handle and prevent the spread of the disease. However, we must still carefully monitor the progress of H5N8 bird flu."

Previous bird flu outbreaks have had a history of mutating and infecting humans, leading to serious complications that can be fatal, such as pneumonia and difficulty breathing. In 2003, H5N1 influenza appeared and killed 400 people in Southeast Asia. Since 2013, H7N9 influenza has caused more than 170 deaths. Vincent Enouf said: "People are infected through contact with poultry, in environments where the density of airborne virus-transmitting molecules is very high. Specifically, in China, where poultry farmers live and sleep close to the barns. Otherwise, no bird flu strain has been transmitted directly from person to person." Thus, in Europe - where the means and awareness of disease handling are generally quite good, the risk of infection to humans is not high. The biggest impact of bird flu is likely to be the consumer market as well as the habits of consumers of poultry products.

Thuc Anh

According to Le monde