Good news from the livestock sector: vaccine trials against the bird influenza virus are promising. But extreme vigilance is necessary because the risks remain high.
Agriculture Minister Adema announced in the House of Representatives last week calm on the bird flu front. Good news, he wanted to say. To begin with, no new outbreaks among poultry have been recorded since the beginning of December, after which much of the Netherlands was allowed to produce birds again. Then things remained calm, and about a month ago, the shelter-in-place requirement could be lifted across the Netherlands.
The second piece of good news Adima update The results of the vaccination trial were presented to Parliament: they are promising. Of course, such a trial round is always exciting, because the surrounding countries are watching with suspicion and are not content with importing meat filled with vaccines. These business interests are carefully pampered: our exporting countries are closely involved in the entire process and remain informed about it.
It is defensible for this to happen, but it should not stop the development and introduction of such a vaccine. A good vaccine is the only cure against the mass executions that have been necessary so far to contain the outbreak. These culls are horrific in light of the largest bird flu epidemic in twenty years. In the Netherlands between approximately January 2021 and May 2023 Seven million poultry were killed To prevent the spread of the H5N1 virus.
fickle
The Dutch Food and Consumer Products Safety Authority (which coordinates the culls) is therefore almost reaching the limits of its capacity. But the danger of the virus itself is much greater. Influenza viruses are irregular phenomena that mutate easily. In recent years, other animal species have also been affected.
The spread of the virus in dairy cows in the United States is concerning. There, livestock are not monitored as closely as in the EU; The number of infected cows may be greater than is known. In any case, traces of the virus have already been found in milk and meat. Some people also became infected.
Although this has not led to life-threatening cases, once the virus reaches mammals, it can more easily mutate into a variant that is dangerous to humans. Especially when pigs become infected, avian influenza viruses can transform swine and human influenza viruses, for example, into a variant that can make people sick — or worse, cause a pandemic.
Not zero
Experts emphasize that the chances are not great, but they immediately say that the chances are not zero. Given the major consequences that the Coronavirus had around the world just a few years ago, and the consequences that many people are still suffering from today, this should be reason enough to do everything they can to limit its spread. With culling if necessary, and vaccinations as quickly as possible.
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