The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine today announced that it has confirmed avian influenza subtype H5N8 in a wild bird in County Wexford.  The wild duck – a wigeon - was found alive but unable to fly in Wexford Town on 28 December.

 The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has confirmed that although the H5N8 subtype can cause serious disease in poultry and other birds, no human infections with this virus have been reported world-wide and therefore risk to humans is considered to be very low.

 The finding is not unexpected given the detection of highly pathogenic H5N8 in wild birds in Great Britain in the last two weeks, and comes one week after the Minister introduced regulations under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 requiring the compulsory housing of poultry as a result of the increased threat. 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 results of these tests will not be available until the middle of next week.

The Department reiterates that strict bio-security measures are necessary to prevent the introduction of avian influenza into poultry and captive bird flocks.   Flock owners should remain vigilant for any signs of disease in their flocks, and report any disease suspicion to their nearest Department Veterinary Office.

 Further information:

Further information on avian influenza can be found here:

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/avian_influenza/birdflunews 

Advice on handling dead wild birds can be found here:

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/avian_influenza/importsexports/measurestoreducetheriskofintroductionofavianinfluenza 

A list of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine offices and their contact details is available at: http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/contact/

 To view this content as a pdf click here: DAFMPR 205/2016 (pdf 184Kb) 

Date Released: 30 December 2016