OIE: Highly pathogenic avian influenza, Croatia

Information received on 10/11/2016 from Dr Tomislav Ki?, Assistant to Minister, Veterinary and Food Safety Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture, Zagreb, Croatia

Summary

Report type	Immediate notification
Date of start of the event	30/10/2016
Date of confirmation of the event	09/11/2016
Report date	10/11/2016
Date submitted to OIE	10/11/2016
Reason for notification	New strain of a listed disease in the country
Causal agent	Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus
Serotype	H5N8
Nature of diagnosis	Laboratory (basic), Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to	a defined zone within the country

New outbreaks

Summary of outbreaks

Total outbreaks: 1

Outbreak Location

VUKOVARSKO-SRIJEMSKA ( River Bidj, Cerje, ?upanja )

Total animals affected

Species	Susceptible	Cases	Deaths	Destroyed	Slaughtered
Mute Swan:Anatidae (Cygnus olor)		10	10	0	0

Outbreak statistics

Species	Apparent morbidity rate	Apparent mortality rate	Apparent case fatality rate	Proportion susceptible animals lost*
Mute Swan:Anatidae (Cygnus olor)	**	**	100.00%	**

* Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction and/or slaughter;
** Not calculated because of missing information;

Epidemiology

Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection

Unknown or inconclusive

Epidemiological comments

Approximately ten swans died on the river Bidj but only two of them were available for laboratory testing. Organ samples were taken and submitted on 31 October to the Poultry centre of the Croatian Veterinary Institute. Avian influenza - subtype H5N8 was isolated. Nucleotide sequencing at the cleavage site of the hemagglutinin (HA) of the isolate revealed the multiple basic amino acid sequence "RERRRKR/GLF", which is consistent with highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Control measures

Measures applied	Vaccination prohibited No treatment of affected animals
Measures to be applied	No other measures

Diagnostic test results

Laboratory name and type

Croatian Veterinary Institute- Poultry Centre ( National laboratory )

Tests and results

Species	Test	Test date	Result
Mute Swan	reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)	09/11/2016	Positive

Future Reporting

The event is continuing. Weekly follow-up reports will be submitted.