On November 13, Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food imposed the confinement of all free-range poultry farms to curb the spread of avian influenza—more commonly known as “bird flu”—caused by the H5N1 virus. This drastic, though not unprecedented, measure was justified by climbing numbers of outbreaks in Europe, as well as the heightened risk posed by the southward migration of wild birds in Europe.
H5N1 bird flu cases spike in Europe. How worried should we be?
