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Category: Outbreaks & Epidemiology ×
H5N1 should now be treated as a permanent systemic risk, not a succession of outbreaks
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has moved beyond the model of episodic poultry outbreaks and should now be managed as a persistent, multi-host systemic risk.
African swine fever progresses faster in wild boar than in domestic pigs
Wild boar and domestic pigs respond differently to highly virulent African swine fever virus (ASFV), according to a 2026 doctoral thesis from the Swedish University of Agricultural…
Chronic Wasting Disease Worldwide: 2026 Update on CWD Cases and Geographic Spread
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) continues to expand in 2026, but the global burden remains overwhelmingly concentrated in North America. As of 5 October, CWD has been documented i...
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease expands in the US as 2026 outbreaks hit wild deer
A new Nebraska study shows that epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV) was already circulating widely in wild cervids before the current 2026 outbreak season. Testing of hun...
West Nile virus in Europe: Dutch deaths rise, while France and Spain report continued animal and human expansion
West Nile virus activity remained substantial across Europe during this week, with some of the clearest new signals coming from the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain. The Net...
Bluetongue in Europe: BTV-3 intensifies in the British Isles while France reports a much quieter season
Bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) remained the main animal-health signal in north-western Europe during the final week of September 2026. Great Britain continued to report a v...
Bluetongue in the UK: more than 2,300 premises affected by the end of September
Bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) has expanded sharply across Great Britain during September 2026, with 2,309 affected premises confirmed in the 2026–2027 season by 30 Septemb...
H5N1 in Africa: two decades of data reveal persistent poultry hotspots and uneven zoonotic risk
A continent-wide analysis of avian influenza in Africa shows that H5N1 has dominated reported animal outbreaks since 2004 and remains concentrated in a limited number of major p...
H5N1 in Canadian wildlife: waterfowl, raptors and reassortant viruses dominate four years of surveillance
A national analysis of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in Canadian wildlife has identified 2,657 detections between January 2022 and March 2026, with wild birds accoun...
Avian influenza in the United States: H5N1 activity rises again as autumn migration begins
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) is becoming more visible again in U.S. poultry as the autumn migration season develops. During the past ten days, Iowa confirmed a new...
Machine learning maps avian influenza risk hotspots across India
A new machine-learning study has mapped areas of India where highly pathogenic avian influenza is most likely to be reported, identifying eastern, northeastern, coastal and sele...
Hunting dogs may represent an overlooked H5N1 exposure interface in the United States
Hunting dogs that retrieve wild birds could occupy an important but poorly studied position in the ecology of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1). A U.S. survey of 112 hun...
H5N1 detected in a cat and rats during a backyard poultry outbreak in Illinois
A highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) outbreak that killed almost an entire backyard poultry flock in Illinois was accompanied by fatal infections in a domestic cat and ra...
African swine fever is becoming a long-term management problem in endemic regions
African swine fever control strategies may need to evolve as the virus shifts from explosive outbreaks towards persistent circulation in some regions. A new perspective in Front...
Avian influenza in summer 2026: low activity in European birds, but continued spread in mammals worldwide
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) remained at relatively low levels in European birds during summer 2026, but the global picture was more dynamic. The latest joint ECDC-...
Shamonda virus spreads across Europe as concern shifts towards fetal infection and congenital disease
In less than two months, Shamonda-Europe virus has spread widely across western and central Europe. Initially detected mainly in cattle with fever, diarrhoea and reduced milk pr...
West Nile virus 2026: horses and birds reveal the scale of transmission across Europe and North America
Animal surveillance is providing some of the clearest signals of the intensity of the 2026 West Nile virus season. By 26 September, France had already recorded at least 253 equi...
Foot-and-mouth disease antibodies detected in more than one in four cattle across Africa and Asia
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 67 studies reports an overall seroprevalence of antibodies against foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) of 26.86% in cattle from Africa a...
First Detection of the H1N1 Virus Reported in European Bison
A study reports the first serological and molecular detection of the influenza A(H1N1) virus in European bison. The study retrospectively analyzed 335 serum samples collected fr...
Influenza in China: Alarming Emergence of a New H6N2 Reassorted Avian Virus
A study reports the identification and characterization of a new reassortant H6N2 virus isolated from poultry in eastern China. In December 2025, 362 samples were collected from...
H5N1 Virus in Cats: An Outbreak of Unprecedented Scale in Poland
The Polish outbreak in June–July 2023 changed the role of cats in the epidemiology of the H5N1 virus. These are no longer sporadic cases of feline infection with the A (H5N1) vi...
African swine fever: Dogs, a New Ally in the Search for Wild Boar Carcasses
The fight against African swine fever (ASF) doesn’t always take place at borders or in laboratories, but sometimes deep in the forest, where dead wild boars lie. This is because...
Avian Influenza and Influenza Viruses of Animal Origin: A Review of 2024
The 2026 epidemiological report from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on zoonotic diseases (2024 data) presents a seemingly paradoxical finding: inf...
H5N1 Avian Influenza: The Risk Associated with Raw Milk Has Been Confirmed
The virus remains infectious for weeks in the milk of infected cows, but standard pasteurization appears to be sufficient. With the H5N1 avian influenza virus now circulating in...