Position paper: Highly pathogenic avian influenza as a systemic risk - implications for control and preparedness

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has evolved from episodic outbreaks into a globally entrenched, multi-host panzootic, with recurrent spillover into mammals. The expanding host range and increasing wildlife–livestock interfaces challenge traditional control strategies, increase opportunities for viral adaptation, and thereby elevate zoonotic risk. Under conditions of continuous re-introduction, repeated reliance on stamping-out delivers diminishing epidemiological returns, while static public health risk classifications underestimate the non-linear and evolutionary nature of influenza risk.

In our new Perspective article in npj Veterinary Sciences, we examine what this shift means for control and preparedness. We propose that HPAI should be reframed as a long-term systemic risk requiring resilience-based governance and strengthened One Health control and preparedness.

You can find out more in the Influenza section