Avian Influenza (Notifiable Disease)
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Avian Influenza, or Bird Flu, is an infectious virus that effects many species of birds, including chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese. There have been many outbreaks around the world including here in the UK.
Bird Flu affects birds, including backyard poultry and can be passed on to our flocks or the commercially farmed birds from migrating wild birds. it spreads relatively easy so when an outbreak is identified, restrictions are put into place around the location of the outbreak, birds are usually culled and the premises disinfected.
If you keep poultry, you should keep a close watch on them for signs of disease, and maintain high levels of biosecurity at all times. If you have any concerns about the health of your poultry, seek prompt advice from your vet.
Find your nearest VET HERE
Signs and Symptoms in Birds
It is possible for birds to be infected but show no clinical signs of disease, so birds that look healthy can still be a risk.
There are two types of bird flu, highly pathogenic and low pathogenic. Highly pathogenic is the most serious and for most birds, will be fatal. Low pathogenic is normally less serious and can show up as birds having respiratory problems or there may be no clinical signs at all.
Some of the signs (which can vary between species) of highly pathogenic bird flu are:
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Drop in egg production
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A loss of appetite
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A swollen head
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Respiratory difficulties – gasping, gurgling, coughing, sneezing
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Blue discolouration of the neck and throat
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Diarrhoea
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Sudden death
Some signs of low pathogenic bird flu are:
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No signs of illness
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Ruffled Feathers
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Drop in egg production
Avian Influenza outbreaks are of concern in domesticated birds for several reasons:
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The potential for low pathogenic viruses to evolve into highly pathogenic viruses
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The potential for rapid spread and significant illness and death among poultry during outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza
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The economic impact and trade restrictions from a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak
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The possibility that a certain strain (avian influenza A viruses) could be transmitted to humans.
Reporting Bird Flu
Bird flu is a notifiable disease (the only other one that affects poultry is Newcastle Disease) so suspected cases should be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
It is advisable to do this if you find more than one dead bird or are suspicious of an outbreak.
To sign up to APHA’s alert service click here.
What is likely to happen if there's an outbreak?
If there is an outbreak of bird flu at a farm near you, DEFRA will visit to take samples and confirm the strain of the virus.
Birds that test positive for the virus would have to be put to sleep and the farm disinfected. Within the local area, a restriction on the movement of poultry is likely to be set up and DEFRA would check for disease locally.
You would probably need to keep any birds you have indoors so they cannot come into contact with wild birds.
Biosecurity
When keeping poultry we should all keep in our mind that biosecurity plays an important part in keeping our birds healthy and preventing spread of diseases between your and other peoples flocks.
Click HERE for more information on biosecurity.
