'Shock' of first England farmer hit by bird flu this season

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1. 1

   'Shock' of first England farmer hit by bird flu this season

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 23, 2026Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “Catherine Armstrong says the outbreak of bird flu is all her worst fears realised A farmer hit by England's first outbreak of avian flu this season has said the loss of 32,000 egg-laying birds is likely to cost her business more than £100,000. Catherine Armstrong, who has a free-range farm near Belford, Northumberland, told the BBC of the "shock" of her worst fears coming true when she found "a carpet of dead birds" in her barns this week. The outbreak's source is not yet known but the virus is thought to have been brought onto the site, which has strict biosecurity measures, by wild birds. The farm's remaining poultry were culled. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has put control measures in place to contain the outbreak , external but warned cases were likely to rise. Strict controls have been placed around the farm to contain the outbreak of avian influenza, Armstrong says So far, there has been one other case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the UK , external , on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Armstrong said her birds, which normally produce 28,500 eggs a day, which are then supplied to a range of UK supermarkets, began to die a week ago. "At this age of the flock, you would tend to see the odd death but on the Friday my lady who works in the shed messaged me at night to say that 39 had died," she explained. During the weekend, the virus spread rapidly, with more than 1,000 birds dead by Sunday night.”

2. 2

   The complexity of protecting poultry from HPAIV: Findings from a case-control study in Sweden.

   Preventive veterinary medicine (Grant et al.)Published Aug 9, 2026Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “A case-control study based on 15 cases from 2020 and 2021 and 33 controls, representing four poultry categories and three counties in southern Sweden was conducted. Data were collected through interviews with farmers/ farmworkers and on-farm observations using a questionnaire and Biocheck.UGent™. Predictor variables were selected based on a hypothesised causal diagram and included in a case-control model using stability selection based on three regularisation models. In addition, a cross-sectional analysis was done based on poultry registry data, and six years of outbreak data. The case-control results showed an association between HPAI outbreaks and presence of waterfowl near the poultry farms. A higher number of birds per farm was positively associated with outbreaks in both parts of the study. Poultry category was associated with HPAI status where turkeys had higher risk and broilers lower risk of outbreaks in the cross-sectional study. The results didn't show a significant association between biosecurity score or other biosecurity covariates, but trends were identified that may deserve further research.”

3. 3

   Biosecurity risk factors associated with outbreaks of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) on poultry farms in Lower Saxony (Germany) - A case-control-study.

   Preventive veterinary medicine (Held et al.)Published Oct 11, 2026Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “In a case-control study, the association of biosecurity measures with the risk of outbreaks of HPAI in poultry farms in Lower Saxony, Germany, was investigated. In total 15 case farms with at least two previous outbreaks of HPAI and 26 control farms without such were examined during farm visits using a specially developed biosecurity checklist. In the univariable logistic regression analysis, the following factors showed a significant association with the outbreak status in poultry farms: longer distance to nearest federal highways, not short-cut grass areas around the stables, no dedicated facilities for removing carcasses from the stables, using trays instead of mats for shoe disinfection as well as feed, litter and manure storage in such a way that suppliers have to enter the clean area. In the multivariable analysis with backward stepwise regression only the variables not short-cut grass areas and no dedicated facilities for removing carcasses from the stables were identified as factors having a significant association with the HPAI outbreak status of a poultry farm. Taking these factors into account could contribute to reducing the risk of HPAI on poultry farms.”

4. 4

   Negotiating security and resilience: planning conundrums for avian influenza control in Great Britain's poultry systems.

   Environmental research. Food systems (Hennessey et al.)Published Aug 21, 2026Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “Concentration of production and processing infrastructure, aging housing stock, consumer demand for free-range, and large-scale releases of game birds impact decisions around poultry governance and questions of risk around avian influenza incursion. We identify two cross-cutting 'entanglements' that condition avian influenza virus vulnerability: (1) poultry planning, where fragmented and often contested land-use decisions interact with environmental and biodiversity policies to shape exposure to wild and semi-wild ecologies; and (2) the insuring of poultry, where a market failure in private avian influenza insurance and uneven and contested state compensation regimes differentially distribute risk across producers and sectors. We argue that farm-level biosecurity, while necessary, is insufficient to secure Britain's poultry production under near-endemic avian influenza virus pressure. A more bio-resilient poultry future will require macro-level, multi-sectoral coordination that integrates spatial planning, infrastructure renewal, and equitable risk-sharing mechanisms for disease preparedness.”

5. 5

   Avian influenza overview June-August 2026.

   EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority (European et al.)Published Sep 30, 2026Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “Following its first introduction to mainland Australia, HPAI A(H5N1) virus spread within local wild bird populations and spilled over to terrestrial carnivores and marine mammals. In the US, the number of dairy cattle farms reportedly affected by HPAI A(H5N1) increased, while detections in captive American minks were reported for the first time. Between 5 June and 31 August 2026, 15 cases of avian influenza virus infection were publicly reported in humans (no fatal cases) in three countries and territories: Bangladesh (one A(H5N1) case), Cambodia (one A(H5N1) case) and China (13 A(H9N2) cases). All human cases reported exposure to poultry or a poultry environment prior to detection or onset of illness. Human infections with avian influenza viruses remain rare and no sustained human-to-human transmission has been documented. The risk posed by avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b viruses currently circulating in Europe remains low for the general public in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and low-to-moderate for those occupationally or otherwise exposed to infected animals or contaminated environments.”

6. 6

   Consequences and global risks of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in poultry in the United Kingdom

   International Journal of Infectious Diseases (Haider et al.)Published Jan 20, 2023Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “The first case of the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in poultry in the United Kingdom (UK) was detected on October 01, 2022 [1]. Between October 01, 2022, and January 13, 2023, a total of 162 cases of HPAI were detected in the UK; 143 in England, 15 in Scotland, three in Wales, and one in Northern Ireland [1]. The outbreaks have resulted in the culling of more than 4.6 million birds as of January 13, 2023 [2]. In the preceding year between 2021 and 2022, Europe also experienced the largest HPAI outbreaks [3].”