Avian influenza from the point of animal husbandry, Data analysis for 2021-2022 from Bulgaria and Europe

Abstract

The European food safety authority (EFSA) has designated the epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from 2021-2022 as the most serious one on the territory of the continent. Official data states 37 affected European countries with 2 520 outbreaks in poultry production systems and the consequent extermination of 50 million birds. Risk assessment should concentrate on many variables that can affect measures for control of the infection; however, the stocking density of birds within the housing system is rarely mentioned or considered. It is the point of this article to pay attention to high stocking density in poultry facilities as a predisposing factor for disease spread. Not underestimating other conditions it tries to prove that welfare of birds has much to do with epidemiology. It also tries to follow some economic and veterinary issues (such as transfer to an increasing number of mammalian species) that are directly connected to viral behavior and may pose a significant risk for animal as well as human health.