Europe joins an unprecedented number cases of avian flu in wild birds and everything indicates that the situation This will continue until the end of winter. These are the conclusions of a new report from the European Food Safety Authority ( … EFSA, for its acronym in English), which warns that the intense circulation of the virus is also generating epidemics in poultry farms and even among carnivorous mammals, such as foxes.
The virus which has forced poultry to be confined throughout Spain due to the risk of contagion has generated epidemics in recent months. in 29 European countries. Concretely, between September 6 and November 28, 2025, there were 2,896 detections of the virus, including 94 in Spain. “The scale and geographical extension “These detections are unprecedented for this time of year, particularly in wild birds,” the EFSA report said.
Although a rebound of the virus in autumn with migrations is common, this season the number of infected wild birds exceeded 2,400, their highest level in the last decade. Waterfowl, particularly ducks, geese and swans, have been hit hard, along with cases of mass mortality among common cranes.
More transmission
The EFSA says it is still early to know what is causing so many outbreaks, although it stresses the lack of pre-existing immunity in wild bird populations or to a greater transmissibility of the variant in circulation as possible hypotheses.
The great danger is that the virus enters farms. A positive result on a farm requires the sacrifice of all animals, which is why it was decided to confine the farms in Spain. In fact, EFSA highlights the situation in the country. Although they represent only 2.4% (9 out of 368) of poultry outbreaks at European level, the heads slaughtered reached 2.5 million, corresponding to 25.4% of the total number of slaughters.
Turkeys were particularly affected and an increase in detected cases was observed in vaccinated ducks.
In humans, avian flu infected 19 people in four countries (Cambodia, China, Mexico and the United States), causing the death of one person in Cambodia and another in the United States, according to the EFSA. All cases were due to exposure to poultry or poultry environments.
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