FAO warns Avian influenza virus H5N1 in domestic ducks, geese

chickens, and countries need good surveillance to prevent it from outbreaking, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said. Healthy domestic ducks and geese may transmit the virus to chickens, and play a more important role in the persistence of the virus in the region than previously thought, the agency said, stressing that H5N1 surveillance need to be increased immediately. FAO's warning followed the detection of H5N1 in diseased young domestic ducks by German scientists. "If the H5N1 virus can persist in apparently healthy domestic duck and geese populations, then countries need to urgently reinforce their surveillance schemes in all regions with significant duck and geese production," FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said. The contact between domestic ducks, geese and chickens is seen by many experts as contributing factors in outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian influenza (HPAI) in disease-entrenched nations. "We are particularly concerned about the Black Sea area which has a high concentration of chickens, ducks and geese," said FAO senior animal health officer Jan Slingenbergh. "In the Ukraine alone, the number of domestic ducks is estimated at around 20 million birds. In Romania, four million domestic ducks and, four million domestic geese are found in the Danube delta," Slingenbergh said. All countries bordering the Black Sea have experienced outbreaks of avian influenza in the past, which have traditional open poultry systems. The link between the H5N1 virus and domestic ducks and geese has recently been confirmed in Germany. Scientists of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute in Riems have detected the H5N1 virus in diseased young ducks on a farm at the end of August. In two other farms, the animals showed the similar symptoms. "Based on its experience in fighting avian influenza around the world over the past three years, FAO considers that risk assessment, surveillance and virus search strategies should be reviewed," Domenech said. After Asia and Africa, Europe could become the third continent where the H5N1 could become endemic in some areas, FAO said.