Among commercial poultry flocks in Asia, further outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been reported in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. Three further human cases in Asia have confirmed infections with flu viruses of avian origin.
So far this season, Japan and South Korea have recorded a slow but steady rise in HPAI outbreaks affecting their respective poultry sectors. Total confirmed outbreaks stand at 13 and 12, respectively.
Japan’s first cases linked to the H5N1 serotype of the HPAI virus were confirmed in mid-October.
Over the past two weeks, the national veterinary authority has notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) that three more poultry farms have been hit by the virus.
The first occurred on November 24, affecting around 2,500 meat ducks in the Gyoda city area. It is located in Saitama prefecture in the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo. In Miyazaki prefecture on the most southwestern main island of Kyushu, a flock of around 35,000 meat chickens showed signs of the disease in the first week of December. Seven days later, the virus was detected in a flock of approximately 150,000 laying hens in Ehime prefecture. This is located on Shikoku, the island south of Honshu.
Based on WOAH notifications, more than 1.2 million poultry in Japan have been directly impacted by HPAI since mid-October.
Over the past two weeks, the agriculture ministry of South Korea has confirmed five further outbreaks of farms linked to the same virus serotype. They bring the nation’s total outbreaks since late October to 12.
Latest to be affected have been three flocks of meat ducks (comprising around 18,000, 22,000, and 32,000 birds), and two of laying hens (94,000 and 140,000). All three duck farms were located in North Jeolla province in the southwest of the country, while the egg flocks were in North Gyeongsang in the east, and South Chungcheong in the southeast.
Compared with 2023, the ministry noted that HPAI was first detected in South Korea one month earlier this year. It expects the peak arrival of wild migratory birds this month, indicating the highest risk of virus transmission from potentially infected wild species to domestic and wild native birds.
Both Japan and South Korea have registered with WOAH further cases of H5N1 HPAI in their respective wild bird populations over the past two weeks.
HPAI outbreaks elsewhere in Asian poultry
The Republic of Turkey (Türkiye) recorded the presence of the H5N1 HPAI virus for the first time this season at the end of October. Since then, six outbreaks have been reported to WOAH, directly impacting close to 11 million commercial birds.
The latest to be affected was a farm with more than 341,000 poultry in Afyon province in western Turkey. So far, the Turkish outbreaks have occurred in two distinct clusters located in Afyon and the adjacent province of Konya.
Meanwhile, the authorities in Taiwan (Republic of China) have registered with WOAH one further HPAI outbreak. Involving a small commercial flock of meat geese, this brought the territory’s total outbreaks since June of 2024 to eight.
Furthermore, WOAH has been notified of five more wild bird cases in Taiwan, and one in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.
Update on HPAI situation in New Zealand
Ongoing testing and monitoring of an East Otago poultry farm continues, according to the latest update from responsible ministry dated December 9. Depopulation of a total of 160,000 laying birds in four poultry houses at the site was expected to be completed on that date. It was planned to move on to carry out the same process for a flock of 40,000 rearing chickens in a separate building at the same site.
Latest update to WOAH puts the number of birds culled at the outbreak site at 194,500, with mortalities of 3,500.
In the last week of November, the H7N6 HPAI virus was detected for the first time in New Zealand at the premises in East Otago on the South Island.
3 more human infections in Asia
Since the start of December, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been informed about three more confirmed cases of infections with influenza virus of avian origin in the Western Pacific region.
Two of the cases were young children who tested positive for the influenza A(H9N2) virus in the People’s Republic of China. The cases were unrelated, and both had mild symptoms. Symptoms in one youngster began at the end of October following direct contact with infected backyard poultry in Guizhou province. In Guangxi province, a young child became infected at a live bird market, with symptom onset on November 18.
Since the region’s first infections with this virus variant in 2015, WHO has been informed of 113 cases, of which 110 were in China.
In early November, an 18-year-old male in southern Vietnam developed a fever following contact with sick and dying poultry. The presence of an H5 virus was detected in the patient, who was admitted to hospital due to co-morbidities. He is reported to have recovered. This is the first case in the region where the N-designation of the virus is not reported.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation in poultry, and on disease developments in the U.S. dairy sector.
