In April, the Veterinary Institute submitted its annual status report for animal health and animal welfare in Norway to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
The report for 2023 shows that the health of Norwegian animals is doing well.
Good animal health is not a given
– The animal health we have here in Norway is very good, but it is not a given. That we achieve and maintain the same high level is thanks to targeted work, says department director for animal health, animal welfare and food safety at the Veterinary Institute, Merete Hofshagen.
She says that it is also thanks to good interaction between the Norwegian authorities, the livestock industry and institutions for research and administrative support.
Nevertheless, in Norway we have had some outbreaks of listed diseases in 2023.
Listed disease
Animal diseases are divided into national list 1, list 2 and list 3 diseases. The degree of seriousness and the potential for infection determines which list the disease ends up on:
- National List 1 diseases are very serious. An outbreak will lead to extensive measures to combat it.
- National List 2 diseases are serious. Systematic control is required to control the disease.
- National List 3 diseases are diseases that it is important that the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has an overview of. It can be relatively common diseases or more rare diseases.
Observed some outbreaks of bird flu
Among other things, ringworm was detected in 16 herds in Trøndelag during the year. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute and the industry work closely to combat this disease through good knowledge, diagnostics and prevention.
Another major outbreak of disease in the Norwegian context occurred in the summer of 2023. Then there was a very high mortality among crutches in Vadsø. What is known in the technical language as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected. This is better known as bird flu.
The outbreak subsided in August, but it is estimated that over 24,000 dead birds were collected from municipalities in Troms and Finnmark. In addition, there are most likely large dark figures.
During the year, bird flu was also detected at a municipal bird farm in Møre og Romsdal. In addition, it was detected in two hobby poultry farms in Vestland and Troms and Finnmark.
In all the cases reported in 2023, the same variant of the virus was detected.
– We have had several outbreaks of bird flu in recent years. We see that the presence of the virus is increasing. And although avian flu is mainly a bird disease, there is increased infection from birds to mammals worldwide, says Hofshagen.
A more globalized society
She goes on to say that it is crucial that we work together with the administration to monitor the situation in Norway. This will make us better prepared for possible new outbreaks of bird flu.
New in this year’s report is a chapter on biosecurity and a focus on fungicide resistance in the chapter on antimicrobial resistance.
– We buy more food and agricultural products from abroad, we travel more, and society is becoming more and more globalised. This means that there will be more importance and more interest in biosecurity in animal health, explains Hofshagen.
Must work preventively
– The purpose of the Animal Health Report is to provide an overall status of animal health and animal welfare for land animals in Norway. Especially with regard to serious, infectious diseases, says Hofshagen and elaborates:
– Maintaining the healthy animal population we have in Norway requires us to work actively with prevention. We do this, among other things, by building knowledge. The fact that we can prepare for and to some extent predict illness makes us very well equipped against health threats, she says.
An annual report
This is the fifth time the Veterinary Institute has launched the Animal Health Report. It is an annual report for terrestrial animal health and animal welfare with several sources, including monitoring programmes, the Veterinary Institute’s diagnostics and research.
Reference:
Michaela Falk et al. (ed.): Animal health report 2023 (PDF). Report from the Veterinary Institute2024.
