Europe is confronting an early and aggressive resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, prompting several nations to reimpose strict biosecurity measures to contain the spread. Belgium, France, and the Netherlands have all ordered poultry to be kept indoors after new outbreaks of the H5N1 strain were confirmed in multiple regions, according to reports from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and European news agencies.
Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain announced that from Thursday, October 23, all poultry must be confined indoors after an outbreak on a turkey farm near Diksmuide in the north of the country. The virus killed 319 birds, and authorities culled the remaining 67,000 to prevent further spread, WOAH said in a statement.
Neighboring France has raised its national alert level to “high” following the detection of several cases in both farm and backyard flocks. This move mandates the indoor confinement of poultry and intensifies monitoring along migratory bird routes. The Netherlands has also detected new cases in its central-eastern region and plans to cull around 161,000 chickens at an affected farm, government officials confirmed.
Elsewhere in Europe, Slovakia has reported an outbreak of H5N1 at a poultry farm, underscoring how rapidly the virus is spreading across the continent. The WOAH described this current wave as “unusually early,” warning that the scale and speed of infections are greater than those seen in the same period last year.
The bird flu virus is primarily spread by migratory wild birds but can devastate domestic poultry populations once introduced. Since 2021, successive waves of the disease have forced European authorities to cull hundreds of millions of birds, disrupting the poultry industry, straining food supplies, and driving up prices of eggs and poultry products.
Although the risk of transmission to humans remains very low, experts from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) caution that the virus’s persistence in animal populations increases the possibility of mutations that could enhance transmissibility. “Every new infection is a chance for the virus to adapt,” said one ECDC spokesperson, urging countries to maintain strict vigilance.
Beyond Europe, Japan has also reported a fresh outbreak of avian influenza on an egg farm in Shiraoi, located on Hokkaido Island. According to WOAH, the virus killed 46 birds before authorities culled the remaining flock.
European authorities have responded by tightening surveillance, expanding testing in high-risk zones, and advising farmers to strengthen hygiene and limit contact between wild and domestic birds.
With colder months approaching, experts warn that Europe could face its most challenging bird flu season in years. While human infections remain rare, the economic and animal health toll is already mounting — reinforcing that early containment and robust monitoring are essential to curbing the disease spread.
