Vets at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) have published research which points to live bird markets in playing a role as sources of renewed infection from the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.
The research by PhD candidate Guillaume Fournié, along with Dr Javier Guitian from the RVC, involved developing a model which shows how areas can benefit from longer unoccupied periods after destocking and subsequent cleaning and disinfection.
"Live bird markets can be a reservoir of infection for domestic poultry, and may therefore be responsible for sustaining H5N1 virus circulation," Mr Fournié said.
"Compared to interventions applied in farms - such as stamping out and vaccination - our model shows that frequent rest days are an effective means with which to reduce H5N1 HPAI infection rates.
"Furthermore, our model predicts that full market closure - as has been implemented in some countries such as Egypt and Vietnam - would only be slightly more effective than rest days to reduce transmission of the disease."
Models developed by the team were based on data from the live bird trade in Hong Kong and they stress that it applied only to chickens.
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