Over the past month, Israel and Taiwan are the only Asian countries to have recorded new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in their respective poultry populations.
At the end of September, new cases of HPAI were confirmed in Israel. Following a seven-month hiatus, the H5N1 serotype of the virus was detected again at a zoo and a poultry farm in the North District (Hazafon).
According to official notifications to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), 50 birds of different species died out of a total population of 350 at a zoo in Sede Yaaqov during the third week of September. Source of the virus is unknown, and all the remaining birds were culled to prevent further spread of the infection.
Earlier this month, an infected wild bird was found dead at a body of water in Hazafon.
A few days later, 20 birds died at a farm in Allonim in the same district. They were among around 65,000 11-week-old breeders, according to the official report. Although the source of infection has not been identified, the farm is located just 17km from the outbreak at the zoo.
Further outbreak in Taiwanese poultry
Around 11 months ago, the first case of HPAI linked to the H5N1 virus serotype was detected in Taiwan’s current outbreak series. By the end of last month, the outbreak total had reached 60, and the number of poultry directly impacted was approaching 1.17 million.
The most recent outbreak was detected in a group of nine poultry at a slaughterhouse in Taipei city, according to the latest WOAH notification.
HPAI developments in Japan, India
Following a five-month hiatus, an HPAI virus of the H5 family has been detected again in Japan.
Testing positive was a crow found dead in Bibai city, which is situation on the country’s northernmost main island and prefecture of Hokkaido.
This was the country’s first HPAI case of the 2023-2024 season, according to the agriculture ministry. To follow up on this development, the ministry issued a warning for nationwide vigilance to prefectural administrations and poultry associations.
To WOAH, the Indian veterinary authority has recently declared the HPAI situation “resolved” in two states, while reporting further individual cases.
One year ago, the first poultry tested positive for the H5N1 HPAI virus in the southern state of Kerala. Up to January of this year, outbreaks were confirmed at 28 locations in at least four districts. According to the latest update, directly impacted were around 96,500 poultry in backyard and commercial flocks.
In early September, the same virus serotype was detected in three wild birds found dead at a natural park in the Mumbai area in the western state of Maharashtra.
According to the Indian agriculture minister, WOAH has approved India’s approach to HPAI control.
Without using vaccination, 26 poultry farms have been declared free of the disease, reports New Indian Express. A further 10 premises will soon achieve the same status.
This source puts the number of states and territories in India affected by HPAI since 2006 at 24. Since then, more than nine million poultry have been culled to control the spread of the virus.
China confirms two human infections
In the Western Pacific region, two new cases of influenza A virus of avian origin in China has been confirmed to the World Health Organization (WHO) in recent weeks.
Testing positive for the avian influenza A(H5N6) virus in early August was a 68-year-old man in Chongqing municipality. He died later in the same month.
So far this year, this is the sixth case in China related to this virus variant. It brings to 88 the number of lab-confirmed infections with this virus in the Western Pacific region reported to WHO since 2014. All but one of these cases were in mainland China, and 34 of the patients have died.
In the adjacent province of Sichuan, the avian influenza A(H9N2) virus was detected in a four-year-old girl in Chengdu city. Her symptoms were mild, and she is reported to have recovered.
According to the WHO, both of the Chinese cases had previous exposure to live poultry. No members of their families developed symptoms of infection.
Two fatal human cases in Cambodia
In Cambodia, two people are reported to have died from infections of the avian influenza A(H5N1) virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Both patients — an adult and a child — had prior contact with poultry. By genetic sequencing, the virus was identified as belonging to the clade 2.3.2.1c. This variant has been circulating in the country for some years. These latest cases bring Cambodia’s total so far this year to four.
First of the recent cases was a two-year-old child in the southwestern province of Prey Veng, according to the Avian Flu Diary blog. The following day, a 50-year old man died in adjacent Svay Rieng. Dead chickens were found at the child’s house, and at the man’s address, 50 chickens had recently died.
Recent research on wild populations in Europe offers some insight into how some birds develop immunity to HPAI.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
