The infection, registered in an Arbeca farm, is the first of its kind in Catalonia
Catalonia investigates a outbreak of bird flu (the H5N1 virus) in a fattening turkey farm in Arbeca (Les Garrigues, Lleida), waiting for the Ministry of Agriculture to confirm the counter-analysis carried out in the next few hours. According to the Acció Climàtica department, the first test came back positive and 37,000 turkeys and 50,000 quails have already been slaughtered (87,000 birds in total) four farms (three turkeys and one quail). Its about first outbreak of bird flu detected in Catalonia and it is suspected that the origin could be in the indirect contact with wild birds. In addition, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, it is the first outbreak of the H5N1 virus reported in poultry in Spain this 2023, and the seventh since the start of the 22-23 season on July 1.
Climate Action has already taken measures and started to slaughter all the birds on farms that are within a radius of three kilometers. There are 11 affected farms in this radius and another 73 within a 10-kilometer radius, as explained this Friday at a press conference from Lleida by the general director of Agriculture and Ramaderia, Elisenda Guillaumes. Besides, the movement of birds will be limited to 10 kilometers, so the animals will be able to leave the farm, but not they will be able to enter again. The suspicion of the disease was derived from the detection of clinical symptoms and a abnormal increase in mortality on February 4.
From the last october, cases of bird flu (the H5N1 virus) Worldwide. During these months, they have sacrificed 100 million poultry in different countries, “the triple than those that were sacrificed in the previous season,” warns Matilde Canelles, immunologist and researcher at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). It is worrying that the virus is also being transmitted between mammals.
“Today, transmission in humans is a very low probability” Guillaumes has guaranteed. “We can affirm that in the consumption of meat and eggs there is no transmission, but we can also guarantee from the Department that some controls so that no infected birds reach the human chain, because all the infected animals are going to be destroyed,” he assured.
The cause of this outbreak of bird flu is due to a “failure of self-security measures”according to Guillaumes, who has also pointed out that it is most likely that the affected farm has entered outside straw contaminated by the droppings of a wild bird carrying the flu. Throughout Europe, avian influenza is endemic among wild birds and that is why there are very strict protocols among the sector to try to prevent it from entering consumer farms. There is a lot of traceability control that allows, for any alert, with very little time “everything is under control” has remarked the general director.
Compensation
Farms that have had to euthanize animals will receive a compensation of between 40,000 and 60,000 euros those of turkeys and €20,000 in the case of quails. In the farm where the outbreak has been detected, the compensation is paid by the Government, the State and the European Union, while in the surrounding farms, the compensation is assumed by the 50% between the Generalitat and the Ministry.
In all cases, after the sacrifice of the animals, the disinfection of the facilities to “deactivate” the virus. All these measures will be lifted when they have passed 30 days from cleaning and disinfection of the affected farm, as long as the health situation does not change.
In the same way, the hunting of birds has been prohibited within a radius of ten kilometers and surveillance levels are maintained in wild birds with the body of Rural Agents.
“cattle disease”
The agricultural unions are concerned because in this area of Les Garrigues there are several poultry farms. Acció Climàtica assures that it is a “cattle disease”, and insists that there is no risk to people’s health.
The last outbreak of bird flu that affected Catalonia was in a duck farm of the Girona regions in 2017. At that time, they had to sacrifice 17,300 fattening ducks outdoors. The outbreak detected also forced the immobilization of six poultry facilities within a radius of three kilometers around the affected farm.
The largest in Europe
This outbreak is the first in livestock that has occurred in Catalonia since the beginning of the bird flu wave that has affected Spain and the surrounding countries, being the largest recorded in Europe in the history.
This focus is the first registered in Spain this 2023. Year 2022 closed with a total of 37 spotlights of bird flu in Spanish farms, distributed among the autonomous communities of Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia and Castilla y León.
The Catalan Poultry Federation already alerted recently of the danger that the high incidence of bird flu throughout the European environment for the farms of the autonomous community.
“The forecast for 2023 is that the uncertainty derived from the geopolitical situation, which makes it very difficult to foresee the evolution in production costs, as well as the high incidence of bird flu both in Europe and internationally, which keeps the level of risk high and could mean a added difficulty for Catalan farms, in the event of an outbreak in the region,” warned the federation.
contagion in mammals
H5N1, the bird flu virus, occurs mainly in birds, so much wild like corral. But now “the alarms have gone off” because they have been observed “many cases in mammals”. Spain registered in 2022 up to 37 outbreaks of bird flu in poultry, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. But, in addition, we must add other cases in wild and captive birds. In October, there was a outbreak on a mink farm from Carral (A Coruña). And a worker of one Guadalajara poultry farm tested positive for bird flu that month, although it is unknown if it was “asymptomatic” either “I just had a virus in my nose” says the CSIC researcher Matilde Cañelles.
Which worries of this outbreak is that at some point jump to the human being, although the health authorities (among them, the WHO) assure that the risk is low. “This has been what has set off all the alarm bells: in the US there have been more than 200 cases in mammals like bears or sea lions. And, when it is transmitted a lot in mammals, there is always the danger that it will jump to humans, but It’s something that hasn’t happened yet.” explains this immunologist.