FVE hosted on 27 February at 10h CET webinar on the preparedness, prevention and control related to zoonotic avian influenza spill-over.
Watch the full recording HERE or have a look at the slides below!
FVE Vice President Jane Clark moderated the webinar and detailed how veterinarians play a key role in implementing evidence-led best practices for disease prevention, detection, management and control in livestock, wildlife and companion animals referring to the latest FVE Position Paper on Pandemic Preparedness. Avian influenza viruses pose an increasing threat, with the potential to adapt to humans and trigger future pandemics (Slides: Webinar HPAI R2)
Employing a One Health approach, we heard from Prof. Ian Brown OBE about how avian influenza can jump from birds into humans or other mammals, drivers of virus evolution and how we can best support disease/threat mitigation through improved prevention and interventions (slides: FVE HPAI spillover_Brown)
Moreover, Dr. Alessandro Broglia from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) presented joint scientific advice that assesses avian influenza virus mutations and the potential of these viruses to spread to humans, along with recommendations for the animal and public health sectors (slides: EFSA_zoonotic_AI_FVE webinar_Feb2025 )
An insightful panel discussion followed on the potential of vaccination in mammals and where should it be applied, measures available to curb further spread and how big the risk is that HPAI could spill over to humans and become the next pandemic.
