Avian influenza control strategies in poultry – the role of vaccination

Since mid-December 2003, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has caused an epidemic in the Asian poultry sector and avian influenza cases have been reported in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Human fatalities catapulted avian influenza into the public arena with fears of a possible global influenza pandemic in case the virus gains capacity to spread from human to human. What should be the way forward? The article describes control options and discusses the role vaccination can play in combating specifically under European conditions and in dynamic poultry markets in other countries