Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI A H5N1) outbreak in Spain: its mitigation through the One Health approach – a short communication

Abstract

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI A H5N1) has occurred over the past few years, especially during the 1918–1919 Spanish Flu pandemic, which wiped out many people in the world. It caused acute illness in about 25–30% of the world’s population, which led to the deaths of up to an estimated 40 million people. Of recent, public health authorities in Spain reported the detection of avian influenza A in two poultry workers on a single farm, following an outbreak in poultry confirmed on 20 September which was likely to be due to exposure to infected poultry or contaminated environments and poor interprofessional collaborations among the Spanish health workers. This is a public health challenge for the Spanish government and the world at large. Thus, we believed that through the One Health approach in Spain, there would be a stop to and prevention of further spread of the recent outbreak of avian influenza A in Spain, as well as other infectious diseases and future outbreaks in the country and the world at large.