
In recent years, the prevalence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 viruses has risen sharply worldwide, causing mass die-offs in wild birds and poultry. Since 2021, H5N1 activity has increased globally, with the current strain (clade 2.3.4.4b) crossing species barriers, infecting new hosts, and adapting to mammals. The ongoing panzootic (2020–2023) poses significant challenges, threatens human health through viral adaptation and demands urgent action.
To prevent a global pandemic, monitoring H5 dynamics, especially at bird-mammal interfaces, is crucial. Governments must prioritize biodiversity and health protection, as HPAI disproportionately affects vulnerable communities. A One Health approach is essential to address the interconnected risks to humans, animals, and the environment.
In collaboration with the GIZ Global Programme ‘Pandemic Resilience, One Health,’ we are thrilled to invite you to a special issue webinar featuring leading experts in the field of HPAI research and response.
Prof. Thijs Kuiken will talk about how fur farming poses risks for future influenza pandemics and Saidal Bah will lead us through the country’s situation and response towards the HPAI outbreak in wildbird in The Gambia in 2023.
Join us for this in-depth discussion to better understand the evolving HPAI spread and explore strategies for effective control and prevention.
Find out more about each talk here or:
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About the Speakers:

Thijs Kuiken
Thijs Kuiken was born in Hong Kong and studied veterinary medicine at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands from 1980 to 1988. He obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1998. He specialized in veterinary pathology and was accepted as a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in 2002. Since 2007, he is Professor of Comparative Pathology at the Department of Viroscience of the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The current focus of his group is the pathogenesis of several emerging and zoonotic virus infections in humans and animals, the prevention of new viral pandemics from bats in combination with bat protection, and the dual role of wild waterbirds as victims and carriers of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. For several years, he has been concerned with ways in which his field of research can contribute to transformative change towards a sustainable society.
Fur farming poses risks for future influenza pandemics
Fur farms are farms where wild mammal species are bred for their pelts. In 2023, approximately 12 million mink pelts, 2.5 million fox pelts, and 6.5 million raccoon dog pelts were produced on fur farms worldwide. Fur farms are historically known to be at risk of infection with influenza A virus infections. This is in part because of applied husbandry methods, with rows of wire cages in open-sided sheds that give access to free-ranging animals, and feeding fur animals on wet feed made from fish, dairy, poultry and other agricultural by-products. The emergence of the goose/Guangdong lineage of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 clade 2.3.4.4b in 2016 posed an additional risk of influenza A virus incursion into fur farms. This is illustrated by cases in Spain, where 52,000 American mink died or were killed; and Finland, where 250,000 individuals involving red foxes, Arctic foxes, American minks and raccoon dogs died or were killed. These virus incursions are a threat to the health and welfare of the fur animals, of the people working on the fur farms, and of wildlife around the fur farms, as well as a cause of financial loss to the owners of the affected fur farms. More importantly, besides ethical issues, fur farming, and especially American mink farming, poses a risk to society because of its pandemic potential. Therefore, in addition to short-term measures regarding diagnosis, surveillance and biosafety, governments should consider national bans of fur farms in the interest of pandemic preparedness.

Saidal Ali Bah
Saidal Ali Bah is a veterinary of medicine parasitologist and works as the principal laboratory technologist of the Central Veterinary Laboratory of the Department of Livestock Services, Ministry of Agriculture, The Gambia.
He has widely faced experience with dealing with outbreaks of various zoonotic diseases, including HPAI. During the HPAI outbreak in the Gambia in 2023 he was in charge of the CVL´s response and together with his colleagues from the environmental and human health sector. With his great engagement and knowledge of HPAI and local structures, he was essential to this response.
Mr Bah is currently doing a PhD on Socio-Ecological Network Approach to Understanding Zoonotic Outbreak Risk (SENZOR) with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine based at the Medical Research Council, The Gambia. In this project, Mr. Bah is to lead fieldwork of sampling of domestic and wild animals in addition to humans and support laboratory diagnostics for pathogen surveillance in The Gambia.