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. 2021 Mar 3;19(3):e06497. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6497

Avian influenza overview December 2020 – February 2021

European Food Safety Authority✉; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and European Union Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza, Cornelia Adlhoch, Alice Fusaro, José L Gonzales, Thijs Kuiken, Stefano Marangon, Éric Niqueux, Christoph Staubach, Calogero Terregino, Irene Muñoz Guajardo, Eliana Lima, Francesca Baldinelli
PMCID: PMC7927793  PMID: 33717356

Abstract

Between 8 December 2020 and 23 February 2021, 1,022 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus detectionswere reported in 25 EU/EEA countries and the UK in poultry (n=592), wild (n=421) and captive birds (n=9).The majority of the detections were reported by Francethat accounted for 442 outbreaks in poultry,mostly located inthe Landes regionandaffecting the foie gras production industry,and six wild bird detections; Germany,who reported 207 detections in wild birds and 50 poultry outbreaks; Denmark,with 63 detections in wild birds and one poultry outbreak; and Poland,with 37 poultry outbreaks and 24 wild bird detections. Due to the continued presence of HPAI A(H5) viruses in wild birds and the environment,there is still a risk of avian influenza incursions with the potential further spread between establishments, primarily in areas with high poultry densities. As the currently circulating HPAI A(H5N8) virus cancause high mortality also in affected duck farms, mortality eventscan be seen as a good indicator of virus presence. However,also subclinical virusspread in this type of poultry production system have been reported.To improve early detection of infection in poultry within the surveillance zone, the clinical inspection of duck establishments should be complemented by encouraging farmers to collect dead birds to be pooled and tested weekly (bucket sampling).Six different genotypes were identified to date in Europe and Russia, suggesting a high propensity of these viruses to undergo multiple reassortment events. To date, no evidence of fixation of known mutations previously described as associated to zoonotic potential has been observed in HPAI viruses currently circulanting in Europe based on the available sequences.Seven cases due to A(H5N8) HPAI virus have been reported from Russia, all were poultry workerswith mild or no symptoms. Five human cases due to A(H5N6) HPAI and 10 cases due to A(H9N2) LPAI viruseshave been reported from China. The risk for the general population as well as travel‐related imported human cases is assessed as very lowand the risk forpeople occupationally exposedpeople as low.Any human infections with avian influenza viruses are notifiablewithin 24 hoursthrough the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) and the International Health Regulations (IHR) notification system.

Keywords: avian influenza, HPAI/LPAI, monitoring, poultry, captive birds, wild birds, humans

EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control), EURL (European Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza) , Adlhoch C,Fusaro A, Gonzales JL, Kuiken T,Marangon S, Niqueux É, Staubach C, Terregino C, Lima E, Muñoz Guajardo I and Baldinelli F, 2021. Scientific report: Avian influenza overview December 2020 – February 2021. EFSA Journal 2021;19(3):6497, 74 pp. 10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6497

Requestor:European Commission

Question number: EFSA‐Q‐2021‐00096

Acknowledgements:In addition to the listed authors, EFSA, ECDC and the EURL wish to thank the following:Member State representatives who provided epidemiological data on avian influenza outbreaks or shared sequence data: Mieke Steensels (Belgium), Aleksandra Miteva (Bulgaria), Lucie Kalášková, Milada Dubská andAlexander Nagy (Czechia), Vladimir Savic (Croatia), Pernille Dahl Nielsen, Hanne Christensen, Sanne Wiingreenand and Charlotte Hjulsager (Denmark), Tiia Tuupanen (Finland),the Epidemic Intelligence team of the French National Epidemiological Surveillance Platform for Animal health, Yves Lambert and Andrea Jimenez (France),Franz Conraths, Christoph Staubach, and Timm Harder (Germany), Georgina Helyes (Hungary), Laura Garza Cuartero and Eithne White (Ireland), Francesca Scolamacchia, TizianoDorotea, Paolo Mulatti,Grazina Mirinaviciute, Bianca Zecchin and Isabella Monne(Italy),Vilija Grigaliuniene, Paulius Bušauskas and Gediminas Pridotkas(Lithuania), Grim Rømo (Norway), Magdalena Gawędzka, Katarzyna Wawrzakand Krzysztof Śmietanka (Poland), Marcel Spierenburg and Nancy Beerens (The Netherlands), Flavius Prelipcean, Onita Iuliana, Ioana Neghirla and Cristina Popescu (Romania), Vilem Kopriva and Martin Chudy (Slovakia), Malin Grant and Siamak Zohari (Sweden); Ian Brown (APHA), Michael McMenamy (AFBI), Ilya Chvala from Federal Center for Animal Health (FGBI ‘ARRIAH’ (Russia));Elke Schneider from European Agency for Safety and Health at Work;the many hundreds of people who sampled birds in the field for avian influenza; the working group AImpact2021 for the data on mortality in the Netherlands; Inmaculada Aznar from EFSA for the support provided to this scientific output;we gratefully acknowledge the authors, originating and submitting laboratories of the sequences from GISAID's EpiFlu™ Database on which this research is based.

Approved: 25 February 2021

This article was originally published on the EFSA website www.efsa.europa.eu">www.efsa.europa.eu on 26 February 2021 as part of EFSA's urgent publication procedures

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