Seasonal bird flu has hit the UK again, but with more severity this year. Guardian. George Eustis, the country’s Minister of Agriculture and Environment, confirms that this is indeed the “biggest eruption ever.”
Christine Middlemis, director of animal husbandry, confirmed to the BBC that the UK had already witnessed the slaughter of more than 500 birds, with 40 affected and the situation worsening since November. “I’m very worried about this situation,” he laments. In the winter of last year, there were only 26 explosions.
“All birds coming from affected areas should be euthanized because of the risk of infection they cause,” says Christine, who ensures that the food chain is not affected by the explosions. “It seems like a huge number, to affected traders, it’s really catastrophic, but it’s a relatively small number in terms of production of eggs, meat, poultry, and so on.”
The disease is transmitted by wild migratory birds from Europe, where high rates of infection have also been reported. The risk to human health is minimal, the director guarantees, but infected birds should not be touched. “We had a fair amount of eruptions and then two or three years of silence. But now it’s not happening. We’ll see this happening all over Europe, and we need to understand why these eruptions happen all the time,” he says.
Asked if climate change was the cause of the outbreak, Christine said she did not know, but said, “This is definitely one of the ideas our experts are exploring. Birds migrate to northern Russia in the summer and exchange viruses with other birds. the most credible. “
