Mersey Reporter - #Merseybites #News

PEOPLE are being asked to keep an eye open for dead birds again this Easter, after it was confirmed that Avian Influenza has been spreading again, due to migratory birds. We are told that there have been multiple recent findings of HPAI H5N1 in wild birds from sites across Great Britain and biosecurity measures have had to be put in place to protect Poultry and other captive birds.

The UK Government is stressing that some strains of bird fHPAI virus (bird flu) can pass to humans, but this is very rare! For a human to become infected it usually requires very close contact between humans and infected birds for a prolonged period of time. But, research has shown that new cases of bird flu, within poultry and other captive birds, are frequently down to human activity and not through direct infection from wild birds. People carry the virus into premises on contaminated items, such as:- shoes, clothes, machines, animal feed, and bedding, according to the results of a 5 year pan-European study. As a result, the UK Government is asking the public not to touch or pick up any dead or visibly sick, wild birds that you find. This helps to protect you and also protect other areas from the risk of the virus spreading on your clothes.

If you do you find:-

▶ 1 or more dead birds of prey.

▶ 3 or more dead wild waterfowl (swans, gulls, geese, or ducks)

▶ 5 or more dead wild birds of any species.

You are being asked to call:- 03459335577 or report online at:- Gov.UK/Guidance/Report-Dead-Wild-Birds

When you report dead wild birds they may be collected and tested for bird flu or other cause of death, but not all dead wild birds will be collected. The data will then help the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to understand how the disease is distributed geographically and in different types of birds are at risk. in the long term, the data will help to develop early warning systems that will help with the surveillance of infected bird migration patterns. This will help to mitigate the risk where the virus circulates in wild and then infects poultry and other captive birds, including domestic pet birds. This surveillance should help target 'housing orders' to times of peak risk.

Scientists are unsure why this outbreak is so much worse than others. Many are saying that it might be that the virus has mutated to enable it to spread more readily from bird to bird, or to hang around longer within the environment. No matter what, this pandemic within the avian world is already having a global impact. Not only is it threatening rare species of birds, but if the effect of the Avian Influenza outbreak isn't able to be contained, it risks exacerbating the already soaring demand for meat and eggs, leading to food shortages and even higher prices! This year the Japanese outbreaks are so bad, over half the birds used for food production have been lost according to state broadcaster NHK. So please help protect our own food supplies and also the many rare species of birds within our area by reporting any dead birds to APHA.

In the case of wild birds, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has some extremely useful full information on its website about the origin of the virus and also how this devastating virus is spread, as well as its effects not just here, but globally, on the wildfowl populations.

For more updates, you can also follow Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on:- Twitter.

For UK Gov posters carrying information about keeping your birds safe, please use this link:- .Gov.UK.

Liverpool (Gladstone)

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