HPAI Goes Global; Tighter Biosecurity Urged

The scourge of avian influenza is back and spreading to countries around the world, reinforcing the need for tightened biosecurity measures by the U.S. industry. Findings of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been confirmed in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania in countries including the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Israel, and South Korea. HPAI has been found in poultry farm flocks and in wild birds. There were 328 confirmed HPAI outbreaks in European poultry as of Nov. 8, according to the Animal Disease Notification System of the European Commission, as reported in media accounts. The EC reported that there also were 130 HPAI cases in wild birds, nearly all confirmed in November, with most in Germany. Read more