Catherine Conlon: Bird flu is spreading from pole to pole – here’s why it matters

East Cork poultry farmers are facing a worrying period with Fota Wildlife Park confirming an outbreak of bird flu

Mon, 27 Oct, 2025 - 01:00

Catherine Conlon

Fota Wildlife Park is facing a major financial blow after confirming it will remain closed for “a number of weeks” due to an outbreak of bird flu, with the cost potentially passing €1m.

Up to 4,000 visitors were expected over the bank holiday weekend alone, with 14,000 predicted for the mid-term break.

Instead, park management confirmed recently it would remain closed following the outbreak which originated from wild bird populations in the Cork Harbour area and has kept the gates closed since October 14.

Eleven confirmed cases of avian flu have been identified in the greylag goose population at the park.

The park’s ability to generate revenue now faces a “significant impact”, while daily operations across the park must continue despite the restrictions and public closure.

Fota Wildlife Park director Aileen Tennant confirmed in a statement it was an extremely uncertain and worrying time for Fota Wildlife Park.

“We are working closely with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and remain focused on the care and welfare of our team and the wildlife in the park.

“Our extensive, pre-existing vaccination programme and robust security protocols have proven success, with the vast majority of birds in the park remaining healthy and showing no symptoms of illness.”

However, the financial implications to local poultry flocks as well as Fota Wildlife Park itself, serious as they are, present just one aspect of the real threat of bird flu. As the disease spreads from pole to pole, the potential threat to public health is a real concern.

In the spring of 2024, a polar bear in Alaska tested positive for bird flu for the first time ever in the species. Around the same time, several predatory seabirds died from the virus, known as H5N1, near Argentina’s research station on Antarctica — the first-time bird flu was recorded on the frozen mainland.

The flu has long been a threat to public health. The first recorded influenza pandemic occurred in 1518, but references to illnesses possible caused by influenza go back as early as 412BC, to a treatise called 'Of the Epidemics' by the Greek physician Hippocrates.

Today, the World Health Organization estimates the flu infects one billion people every year. Of these, three to five million infections cause severe illness, and hundreds of thousands are fatal.

An influenza A strain H1N1 caused the famous 1918 Spanish flu epidemic that killed 50 million people worldwide.

A related H1N1 virus was responsible for the most recent influenza A pandemic in 2009, commonly referred to as the swine flu pandemic. In that case, experts believe multiple different types of influenza A virus mixed their genetic information to produce a new and especially virulent strain of the virus that affected up to 1.4 billion people or a fifth (21%) of the global population of 6.8 billion people at the time.

Both swine and avian influenza are strains of influenza A. Just as swine flu strains tend to infect pigs, avian influenza strains tend to infect birds.

But the potential for influenza A viruses that typically infect animals to cause pandemics in humans, like the swine flu pandemic, is why experts are concerned about ongoing level of avian influenza in wild birds.

Why should we be concerned about bird flu?

In the last two decades, HPAI has spread from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, mainly though bird migration. It can affect a wide range of common wild birds, who can transmit infection to poultry including chickens, turkey and ducks. If bird flu is found in a flock, the entire flock on the poultry farm has to be slaughtered, along with numerous other measures to prevent bird flu spreading to other farms.

Such an event occurred in Northern Ireland in February 2025, when cases were confirmed on three commercial farms and a captive bird collection in Co Tyrone; and led to the culling of up to 80,000 birds. The most recent outbreaks in commercial poultry in the Republic of Ireland were in November 2022.

Can people catch bird flu?

Bird flu can be transmitted to people, but rarely. Spread of bird flu from birds to people requires very close contact with live infected birds or their droppings, or following slaughtering, butchering or preparing infected poultry for eating.

Bird flu was detected following tests on a number of birds which were found dead at The Lough in Cork City last month. Picture: Larry Cummins

Most people infected with bird flu get a fever, followed by flu-like symptoms — cough, runny nose, sore throat or shortness of breath. Diarrhoea may also present in the early stages, as well as vomiting or headache.

The type of bird flu found in Asia can produce serious disease in people. Thankfully, bird flu in people is not common. In the last two decades, the World Health Organization has reported about 900 cases in 23 countries, half of whom have died.

However, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) reports the bird flu that is present in Europe at the moment, although very dangerous to birds, is different from the version seen in Asia, and, so far, has produced only mild symptoms in people in Europe.

However, despite being a much less serious illness in people, it could be passed from people to Irish poultry flocks, leading to severe disease among birds.

In terms of foodborne risks, there is no evidence properly cooked poultry or eggs can infect people with bird flu. Irish poultry and eggs, when properly cooked, are perfectly safe to eat. Use soap and water to wash hands after handling raw eggs or poultry, and clean surfaces and utensils that have come into contact with raw eggs and poultry meat.

The HPSC offers the following advice to avoid getting bird flu:

Never handle birds that appear sick or are found dead;
Keep any pets away from them — dogs should be kept on a lead when walking in areas where there are sick or dead wild birds
Avoid contact with any surfaces contaminated with bird droppings;
Avoid contact with all bird feathers found in the environment and other bird waste;
If you find dead waterfowl (ducks, geese or swans) or other dead wild birds, report them to the Department of Agriculture at 01 4928026 or at aviancheck.1pps.rhos.agriculture.gov.ie/report.

Bird flu matters because it poses a significant threat to wild birds and other mammals, the poultry industry, human health and the economy. It can cause severe illness or death in humans, although human cases are rare.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain that is currently circulating in wild birds in Europe can lead to mass culling of poultry flocks, which disrupts food security and international trade in poultry and poultry products, and drives up prices for products like eggs and necessitates strict control measures to curb its spread.

The impact on the poultry industry includes risk of mass culling and subsequent economic disruption. The impact on humans includes the risk of bird flu spreading from birds to humans — currently a low risk, but that can change.

There is always the danger the virus could potentially mutate and spread more easily among humans, sparking a future pandemic.