(Ecofin Agency) – Worldwide, avian flu represents the first health challenge for the poultry industry. For the time being, the main means of control, such as culling or confinement of poultry, are no longer sufficient to reduce the threat in a sustainable manner.
On March 17, the Dutch government announced that two vaccines against avian flu had been successfully tested at the Wageningen Bioveterinary Research center, a veterinary research center located northeast of Amsterdam.
According to details relayed by Archyde.com, the vaccines were made by the French veterinary pharmaceutical company Ceva Animal Health and the German company Boehringer Ingelheim. “The vaccines not only protected the poultry used in the laboratory against the symptoms of the disease, but they also prevented the spread of the flu avian,” a statement read.
With these positive tests recorded in a controlled environment, authorities plan to initiate field trials lasting more than a year to assess how long the birds’ immunity lasts after vaccination.
Overall, this experiment could be a real scientific breakthrough in the fight against avian influenza which since the beginning of 2022 has already led to the slaughter of more than 200 million birds worldwide (chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese) according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA).
According to several observers, the disease is gaining more and more ground in the world posing serious risks to poultry flocks throughout the year and not only during the migration seasons of wild birds which are the main responsible for the spread of the virus.
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