Avian influenza in UK seal populations: HAIRS risk assessment
Qualitative assessment of the risk that influenza of avian origin in UK seal populations presents to the UK human population.
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Avian influenza viruses (AIV) have long been recognised in Europe where there is longstanding annual surveillance for poultry and wild bird infections. Whilst there is no routine surveillance for diseases including AIV specifically in marine mammals in the UK, sporadic findings of AIV infecting seals have been reported. These include subtypes A(H3N8) isolated from a juvenile grey seal in 2017, and A(H5N8) from a grey seal and 2 common seals (or harbour seal) in 2020.
Although the UK is home to 38% of the entire world’s population of grey seals and 30% of the European subspecies of common seals, there have never been reports of AIV transmitting from seals to humans, or vice versa, in the UK.
As the number of incidents involving AIV infections in terrestrial and marine mammals has increased, including in seal populations, this has warranted an assessment of the risk AIV in UK seal populations pose to people with whom they may come into contact.
A PDF version of this risk assessment is available on request from HAIRS@phe.gov.uk