Over the past week, nine European states have confirmed further outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry flocks.

Seven of the countries have registered new cases with the Animal Disease Information System in the period December 11-17. This database used by the European Commission (EC) to monitor listed animal diseases in European Union (EU) member states and selected adjacent countries, but not Great Britain.

The presence of the H5N1 HPAI virus was reported at seven more farms in France, six in Italy, and five in Germany. Meanwhile, Poland’s total rose by a further three, Portugal’s by two, and Denmark and the Netherlands each confirmed one further outbreak.

These bring the total outbreaks in the region to date in 2025 to 682, with 23 countries registering one or more cases.

As of December 17, Germany had confirmed the most outbreaks involving commercial poultry with the EC System this year at 167. It is followed by Poland (114), Hungary (107), France (103), Italy (59), and the Netherlands (26). There have been no more than 15 outbreaks in this category in 2025 in each of the other 17 states.

As noted above, disease developments in Great Britain are not included in the EC’s database.

As of December 19, the government agriculture department, Defra had recorded 70 HPAI outbreaks in poultry (including commercial and backyard flocks) in the United Kingdom since October of this year.

First poultry cases in new areas of France, Poland

Further details on these developments are provided in notifications from the national animal health agencies to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

Among these are the first cases in the Polish provinces of Pomerania and Lodz following a near-six-month hiatus, in each case.

Of the three most recent HPAI outbreaks reported by France, one involved a flock of ducks that had been vaccinated as part of the country’s avian flu vaccination program.

Furthermore, Normandy has become the 10th region of France to register cases of HPAI since October. According to the WOAH notification, a mixed flock of around 8,200 poultry in this region’s department of Calvados tested positive for the H5N1 HPAI virus earlier this month. 

New outbreaks involving captive birds in 5 countries

As of December 17, 25 countries in Europe had recorded a combined total of 159 outbreaks in captive birds through the EC’s System. The category includes backyard and hobby poultry flocks, as well as zoos and similar establishments.

As with commercial poultry flocks, more outbreaks have been reported by more countries so far this year than in the whole of 2024, when 142 outbreaks were logged through the system by 17 of the region’s states.

In the previous seven days, the French total increased by two, and those of the Czech Republic (Czechia) and Germany each by one, according to the EC.

Additionally, the virus was detected in two more backyards in Denmark, and one in Estonia.

At 37, the German total in this category is the region’s highest this year, followed by Poland (with 25), and the Czech Republic (24). Each of the other countries has reported no more than 12 outbreaks in this category, according to the EC System.

The U.K.’s most recent captive bird flock to have been hit by HPAI was in Oxfordshire, and confirmed within the last week. 

Escalating HPAI cases in European wild birds

During the whole of 2024, 32 countries recorded 926 HPAI outbreaks involving wild birds with the EC System.

These totals have been far exceeded in 2025, with 34 states registering 3,708 outbreaks in this population with the same agency (as of December 17).

As in 2024, the great majority of wild birds have tested positive for the H5N1 HPAI virus serotype.

Over the period December 10-17, 154 new outbreaks in wild birds were confirmed by 19 countries across Europe. Of these, 52 were identified in Belgium, and 27 in the Netherlands.

Of all cases this year, the German total is the highest at 2,068 (as of December 17), according to the EC’s database. Next come the Netherlands (380), France (250), Belgium (218), and Spain (142).

View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation in poultry, and on disease developments in the U.S. dairy sector.