Bird flu discovered in wild duck in Co Wexford

A confirmed case of avian bird flu has been detected in Co Wexford following a number of recent discoveries in Europe.

The Department of Agriculture said the influenza subtype H5N8 was found in a wild duck known as a "wigeon" on Wednesday, December 28th. The bird was found alive but unable to fly.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has said although the H5N8 subtype can cause serious disease in poultry and other birds, no human infections of the virus have been reported anywhere. The risk to humans is “considered to be very low”, it said.

The discovery comes after the Department of Agriculture took the unprecedented step this month of ordering farmers to move their poultry indoors.

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Regulations under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 require “flock keepers to confine all poultry and captive birds in their possession or under their control in a secure building to which wild birds, or other animals do not have access and to apply particular bio-security measures”, it said.

The Avian Influenza (Precautionary Confinement of Birds) Regulations 2016, are a precautionary measure and follow an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N8 in a turkey flock near the coast in Lincolnshire, England and in a dead wild duck in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Other cases have been detected in Europe, including Poland and France, since the end of October.

“Further tests are being carried out to determine whether the virus is the same highly pathogenic strain that is currently present in Great Britain and mainland Europe,” the Department said of the first Irish-based find. The results of these tests are due back next week.

In the meantime, officials have stressed the need for strict bio-security measures to prevent the introduction of bird flu into poultry and captive bird flocks and owners have been urged to remain vigilant for any sign of the disease.

The Irish Farmers’ Association’s poultry committee chairman Nigel Renaghan recently said there were concerns for the poultry industry’s reputation should there be an outbreak in Ireland.

“The reality is if you have a free-range or an organic unit and birds are going outside to pasture, wild birds flying over can contaminate the site so you’re running a risk,” he said.

“If it comes in and it’s put in a newspaper that avian influenza has touched into Ireland, even though it has no effect on humans there is that perception. And the fear is that people may not eat as many eggs or as much poultry, which in turn causes its own problems.”

Ireland produces about 70 million chickens annually, along with 4 million turkeys and close to 600 million eggs.