Avian influenza – or “fowl plague,” as it was once known - was discovered in Italy in 1878. This disease remained endemic in Italy for the next 50 years and spread to many other countries. Between 1901 and 1930, fowl plague outbreaks were reported in Europe, North and South America, Egypt, China and Japan.
Some early outbreaks were self-limiting, because farms tended to be isolated and this disease usually killed most of the birds. Governments sometimes ordered the remaining birds to be slaughtered. In other cases, farmers voluntarily undertook the culling, then restocked the farm.
Occasionally, mistakes in disease control helped avian influenza spread widely. When birds started dying rapidly at the 1901 poultry show in Brunswick, Germany, the organizers panicked and sent all the birds back to their farms – thus, spreading the disease throughout the country. In Germany, avian influenza was once known as “Brunswick disease.”
Center for Food Security and Public Health