World Organisation for Animal Health
Intergovernmental body setting animal disease standards and reporting rules, based in Paris.
The World Organisation for Animal Health counted about 1,528,120 birds dead or culled from H5N1 worldwide in July 2026, in a season with wild-bird detections well above the two before, and poultry outbreaks resumed in Europe in September.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026
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Reported the poultry outbreak picture
Pandemics and Biosecurity: Mentioned in: Cambodia confirms sixth human H5N1 caseMentioned in: Australia releases its first H5N1 genome
Pandemics and BiosecurityMentioned in: MERS clade B found in Nile Basin camels
Pandemics and BiosecurityBackground
The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) is the intergovernmental body that sets international standards for animal health and welfare. It runs WAHIS, the system through which member countries report animal disease outbreaks. Founded in 1924 as the Office International des Epizooties, it has 183 members and is headquartered in Paris. It has used its current English name since 2003 and dropped the OIE acronym for WOAH in May 2022. Emmanuelle Soubeyran has been Director General since 2024.
Its avian influenza situation reports track H5N1 in animals, counting poultry losses, culls and wild-bird detections.
With WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization, WOAH runs GLEWS+, a joint early-warning system for threats that cross between animals and people. A GLEWS+ assessment published in August 2026 reported fragments of clade B MERS coronavirus in Nile Basin camels; incomplete sequences leave whole-genome confirmation as the next step.
WOAH logs a heavier bird flu season
WOAH's Situation Report 85, released on 17 August 2026, counted about 1,528,120 birds dead or culled worldwide in July alone. The organisation says wild-bird detections in the season to July were significantly higher than in either of the two previous full seasons, with 7,444 outbreaks in Europe.
The lull in poultry did not last. As the northern autumn began, outbreaks resumed in September in France, Sweden, Bulgaria and Canada. Human cases remain rare by comparison: Hong Kong's health agency counted 11 worldwide in 2026 by late September, against 81 in 2024. For WOAH, whose reporting system is how governments notify these outbreaks, the autumn count will show whether this season outruns the last.