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is a senior policy officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV). is doing a Master's in Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health. The two met up to discuss the issue of avian flu prevention.

So what measures are currently in place to prevent bird flu?

Bouma: "I've been dealing with outbreaks of bird flu and other diseases for a long time now. The first outbreak I experienced was in 2003. It was quiet for a while after that. I joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in 2011. We've experienced several types of avian flu outbreaks since 2014. All sorts of measures have been put in place to prevent farms from becoming contaminated. Crucially, farmers are required to keep all poultry in their pens and introduce hygiene measures. We believe those measures are effective, but they can't always prevent outbreaks. We're currently exploring additional measures to further reduce the risk of outbreaks."

Nick, how do you view issues like bird flu from your perspective as a student?

"It's complicated. The visitor ban means students can't go on company visits. As a result, we now have graduating vets who haven't had the opportunity to visit a poultry farm. We're obviously critically reflecting on issues like bird flu and we're also discussing preventive measures. I'm personally planning to become a poultry veterinarian. I worry about the future of the Dutch poultry industry sometimes. It's pretty uncertain at the moment. I think it's all about prevention at the end of the day. We can't stop avian flu from spreading, but we can prevent our livestock from getting sick." 

Your own Master's research is about avian flu vaccines. Which of your findings really stuck with you?

"The fact that these vaccines are actually effective. My research focused on an avian flu variant (H9N2) that doesn't necessarily cause any serious symptoms. The thing is, it is causing major economic damage. H9N2 is a huge problem in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. That's why some countries are using inactivated vaccines, but that means the chickens are still excreting the virus. As a result, the virus keeps spreading. We were trying to find out whether we could solve that problem using a vaccine that contains a weakened virus that's still alive. As it turned out, the chickens excreted a lot less of the virus." 

Annemarie, what's your take on the use of vaccines?

"We commissioned an experiment in 2022 to find out whether a range of new vaccines could protect against the current avian flu variant H5N1. We're also going to do field trials and conduct a pilot project. That will eventually allow us to set up an effective vaccination and monitoring programme so we can prevent infections that could lead to a major outbreak. And if an outbreak does occur, we'll be able to detect it quickly. We're working really hard, but the process is taking longer than we'd like. Carefully designing a major vaccination campaign takes time. First, we want to establish which vaccines can actually help prevent bird flu.

Nick, you said you feel the poultry industry is facing an uncertain future. Do you still see a future for yourself as a poultry veterinarian?

"I think we'll always need poultry vets. I do wonder what the industry will be like ten years from now, though."

Bouma nods in agreement. "I also believe there's definitely a future for poultry vets."

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