Dr. Ilaria Capua of the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy and her colleague, Dr. Angela Fanelli of the European Commission, Joint Research Center for Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transport stress the need for action to suppress avian influenza in commercial flocks.  In a letter to Science, Drs. Capua and Fanelli reviewed recent developments and prevalence of avian influenza including an ongoing panornitic, extension to dairy herds, terrestrial and marine mammals and the emergence of zoonotic infection.

The authors recognize the likelihood of extension of H5N1 to additional free-living and possibly domestic species and urge realistic control strategies to mitigate spread to free-living mammals and birds and possible zoonotic infection.  They state, “If vaccination is found to be most effective, reasonably priced vaccine should be made available to the poultry and cattle sectors and trade barriers for vaccinated animals should be reconsidered.” 

It is noted that Dr. Capua has extensive experience in the control of avian influenza and was responsible for introduction of DIVA H7 vaccines to control infection among turkeys in northern Italy during the 1990s.

Capua, I. and Fanelli, A., (2024) Consistent H5N1 Control Needed for Farm Animals, Science 386:630