The Comunitat Valenciana declares a health emergency over Newcastle Disease
The Pleno del Consell of the Comunitat Valenciana on 30 January 2026 formally approved the declaration of emergency to carry out urgent health measures aimed at the prevention and control of Newcastle Disease. This pathology, characterised by being highly contagious, affects both wild and domestic birds and prompted an immediate response following the confirmation of a positive Newcastle case on 29 December in the municipality of Llutxent, and four further secondary outbreaks in nearby farms. The aim of these new measures is to prevent the emergence of additional secondary outbreaks in the Comunitat Valenciana.
Emergency action plan and allocated budget
To address this health threat, the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Water, Livestock and Fisheries has designed an emergency action plan with a total budget of €637,622. The planned interventions have a maximum implementation period of three months, with the aim of remedying existing damage and preventing the virus from spreading to other holdings.
The immediate measures include the depopulation of the affected farms and the culling of animals in strict compliance with animal welfare regulations. In addition, the culled birds will be destroyed or buried, along with feed and any other materials that may be contaminated. To ensure the effectiveness of the process, geological surveys will be carried out to identify suitable areas for excavating pits in which both animal remains and the materials and protective clothing used during operations will be deposited.
“Mandatory vaccination is a structural prevention measure that reinforces the health security of the sector.”
Enhanced biosecurity, perimeter control and the hiring of specialist cleaning teams
The containment strategy is not limited to confirmed outbreaks. The authorities have established a biosecurity reinforcement protocol within a 10-kilometre radius around the positive holdings. Within this perimeter, specific surveys will be conducted to assess the level of protection at nearby farms, and disinfectant will be applied to facilities, transport vehicles and equipment that may have come into contact with the virus.
These actions seek an “agile, swift and effective” response to safeguard the region’s poultry sector. The intervention also includes the hiring of specialist teams for the collection and management of contaminated animals and materials.
“The regulatory update will make it possible to introduce mandatory vaccination throughout the Comunitat Valenciana.”
Towards mandatory vaccination across the entire region
Beyond the temporary emergency measures, the Consell is committed to a structural solution. The Directorate-General for Agricultural and Livestock Production is processing an amendment to the Annual Zoosanitary Plan of the Comunitat Valenciana, originally approved on 8 January 2026. This regulatory update will enable the introduction of mandatory vaccination against Newcastle Disease throughout the entire territory of the Comunitat Valenciana.
The Regional Minister for Agriculture has stressed that this measure is vital to ensure the stability of an essential economic activity and to protect Valencian poultry farmers. By incorporating mandatory vaccination protocols, the aim is to raise health safety standards and prevent future outbreaks that could jeopardise animal health and the viability of the poultry sector.
“The emergency action plan has a budget of €637,622 and an implementation period of three months.”
Want to stay one step ahead in poultry farming? Subscribe free to our eNewsletter and receive a weekly selection of the best information to anticipate trends, stay up to date and grow as a poultry industry professional. NeXusAvicultura: Vision, Criteria, Quality and Context.
The Comunitat Valenciana declares a health emergency over Newcastle Disease
The Pleno del Consell of the Comunitat Valenciana on 30 January 2026 formally approved the declaration of emergency to carry out urgent health measures aimed at the prevention and control of Newcastle Disease. This pathology, characterised by being highly contagious, affects both wild and domestic birds and prompted an immediate response following the confirmation of a positive Newcastle case on 29 December in the municipality of Llutxent, and four further secondary outbreaks in nearby farms. The aim of these new measures is to prevent the emergence of additional secondary outbreaks in the Comunitat Valenciana.
Emergency action plan and allocated budget
To address this health threat, the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Water, Livestock and Fisheries has designed an emergency action plan with a total budget of €637,622. The planned interventions have a maximum implementation period of three months, with the aim of remedying existing damage and preventing the virus from spreading to other holdings.
The immediate measures include the depopulation of the affected farms and the culling of animals in strict compliance with animal welfare regulations. In addition, the culled birds will be destroyed or buried, along with feed and any other materials that may be contaminated. To ensure the effectiveness of the process, geological surveys will be carried out to identify suitable areas for excavating pits in which both animal remains and the materials and protective clothing used during operations will be deposited.
“Mandatory vaccination is a structural prevention measure that reinforces the health security of the sector.”
Enhanced biosecurity, perimeter control and the hiring of specialist cleaning teams
The containment strategy is not limited to confirmed outbreaks. The authorities have established a biosecurity reinforcement protocol within a 10-kilometre radius around the positive holdings. Within this perimeter, specific surveys will be conducted to assess the level of protection at nearby farms, and disinfectant will be applied to facilities, transport vehicles and equipment that may have come into contact with the virus.
These actions seek an “agile, swift and effective” response to safeguard the region’s poultry sector. The intervention also includes the hiring of specialist teams for the collection and management of contaminated animals and materials.
“The regulatory update will make it possible to introduce mandatory vaccination throughout the Comunitat Valenciana.”
Towards mandatory vaccination across the entire region
Beyond the temporary emergency measures, the Consell is committed to a structural solution. The Directorate-General for Agricultural and Livestock Production is processing an amendment to the Annual Zoosanitary Plan of the Comunitat Valenciana, originally approved on 8 January 2026. This regulatory update will enable the introduction of mandatory vaccination against Newcastle Disease throughout the entire territory of the Comunitat Valenciana.
The Regional Minister for Agriculture has stressed that this measure is vital to ensure the stability of an essential economic activity and to protect Valencian poultry farmers. By incorporating mandatory vaccination protocols, the aim is to raise health safety standards and prevent future outbreaks that could jeopardise animal health and the viability of the poultry sector.
“The emergency action plan has a budget of €637,622 and an implementation period of three months.”
Want to stay one step ahead in poultry farming? Subscribe free to our eNewsletter and receive a weekly selection of the best information to anticipate trends, stay up to date and grow as a poultry industry professional. NeXusAvicultura: Vision, Criteria, Quality and Context.
Avian influenza spreads among vultures in Spain and France
Following an avian influenza outbreak in Griffon vultures in 2022, Spanish and French researchers have revealed the rapid transmission of the virus between colonies of this scavenger bird over long distances, highlighting the importance of integrating movement ecology into wildlife health surveillance.
In the spring of 2022, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (subtype H5N1, also known as avian influenza virus) affected several colonies of Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) in Spain and France. Although mortality cases were limited, a pioneering study of the event has revealed a pattern of dissemination that was little known in a species previously considered unaffected by or resistant to infection with this virus.
Drawing on existing ecological monitoring data from Griffon vulture populations, researchers from the Health and Biotechnology Research Group (SaBio) at the Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC – CSIC, UCLM, JCCM), in collaboration with more than twenty Spanish and French scientific institutions, have demonstrated that the natural movements of vultures between colonies may have facilitated a rapid, silent, and cross-border spread of the virus at a regional scale. By combining virological and serological analyses with GPS tracking data, the researchers confirmed rapid spread of the virus, most likely from a single introduction event in central Spain.
Sampling colonies and distribution of H5N1-positive vultures in Spain and France. Colour intensity indicates the number of infected birds per site.
The study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, shows that some tagged Griffon vultures travelled more than 400 kilometres in just two days. Combined with a probable disease incubation period of 3 to 5 days during which an infected bird still appears healthy, this information suggests a capacity for silent transmission of the avian influenza virus among individuals of this species over distances of up to thousands of kilometres, with the potential to spread from the centre of the Iberian Peninsula to the French Massif Central within a matter of weeks. Fortunately, the detection of specific antibodies in adult and some chick Griffon vultures indicates that both adults and chicks can survive the disease and make a full recovery.
Phylogenetic analysis of the strains detected in Griffon vultures confirms that all belong to the same clade, shared with viruses found in wild aquatic birds, reinforcing the hypothesis of a single initial introduction from that reservoir.
The upper figures show the results of the phylogenetic analysis of the H5N1 virus detected in vultures and its relationship with strains found in wild and domestic birds, highlighting the clade shared by vulture samples from Spain and France. The lower figures show GPS-tracked trajectories of Griffon vultures during the outbreak (March–June 2022) and a control year (2023). Long-distance flights are shown in red, and local movements in grey.
Although Griffon vultures do not access poultry farms or official carcass disposal channels for domestic birds, this study demonstrates that they can be affected by emerging diseases circulating in the natural environment. Their role as passive dispersers of viruses between regions adds a new dimension to their value as health sentinels.
This work represents a landmark achievement in bringing together ecological knowledge, movement biology, and virological and molecular analysis within a cross-border collaboration to understand the dynamics of an avian influenza virus outbreak in wildlife. It further underscores the importance of incorporating movement ecology into epidemiological surveillance programmes, particularly for key wildlife species. “Outbreaks in wildlife remind us that the boundaries between animal health, public health, and conservation are more porous than they appear,” the authors of the study conclude.
The spread of H5N1 virus in Griffon vultures, which are essential to ecosystem functioning through carcass removal, poses an indirect risk: if their populations decline, unconsumed animal remains could increase, potentially facilitating other zoonoses.
