The EU has urged people to keep dogs and cats inside amid a wave of record cases of bird flu.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said in December that Europe was suffering from the “largest ever observed” wave of influenza.
In Poland, 24 cats tested positive for bird fly since June 10 with some cases resulting in deaths while five incidences were reported in dogs in Italy.
From October 2021, there were 2,520 outbreaks in poultry. The cases were reported across 37 countries with 3,867 detections in wild birds.
“It is recommended to avoid exposure of domestic cats and dogs, and in general carnivore pets, to dead or diseased animals,” the EFSA said in its latest update.
“Possible measures are keeping dogs on a leash, and confining cats indoors in areas where extensive circulation of HPAI viruses in wild birds has been confirmed.”
There is no vaccination for poultry or most captive birds to protect against bird flu in England. However, France recently said it hopes to start vaccinating poultry as early as autumn 2023.
The US has also begun testing several vaccine candidates for potential use on birds.
Two new cases of bird flu have been detected in poultry workers after they came into contact with infected birds, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Friday.
The individuals were exposed at two different premises in England to the previously reported detections.
The avian flu was detected in the workers after they took tests for asymptomatic people who had been in contact with infected birds.
It follows the confirmation of two positive cases in May under the same testing programme. Those poultry workers have since tested negative.
