It is my pleasure to welcome you to both this issue of Companion Animal and Manchester for the ever-exciting BSAVA Congress! This years programme is stacked full of talks and workshops around a wide range of topics that will provide refereshers and new knowledge to all. Similarly, this edition of Companion Animal is full of articles covering subjects from parasitology (p6) to canine cruciate ligament disease (p26) to quality improvement (p46), so there is sure to be something for everyone!
There were reports of H1N1 avian influenza infections in the US in January (Yang, 2025) and the UK in February (gov.uk, 2025). Pathogenic H1N1 has been a potential issue for many years, but the ongoing outbreak may have ramifications for pet owners outside of those keeping birds for farming. Feeding companion animals a raw food diet has become more common in recent years (The Business Research Company, 2025). Owners may feel that this reflects the natural diet that their pet would have, and there is anecdotal evidence of health benefits for animals which are fed raw food. However, feeding raw food comes with its own risks – as the food is not cooked, there is an increased risk of bacteria remaining in it (Morgan et al, 2022). This is particularly problematic in light of the H1N1 outbreak, as there have already been cases of cats in the US who have died as a result of H1N1 infection from raw food (Yang, 2025). Although there have been no casualties in the UK at the time of writing, it is vital that owners who are embracing the raw diet are made aware of the risks involved.
A secondary aspect of H1N1 which is particularly relevant in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it is zoonotic. There are cases in dairy farms, with reports of dairy workers also contracting the disease (Weston, 2025). Although there is a vaccine for avian influenza, vaccinating poultry is currently not allowed in the UK (Prior, 2025), in part because there is some indication from countries which do use vaccinate poultry have a higher rate of mutation in the virus itself (Li et al, 2025).
The concept of ‘One Health’ has long been a staple in veterinary medicine, and this latest outbreak of H1N1 illustrates how interlinked human health, environmental health and animal health are. Veterinarians are well-placed to inform owners of risks that they may not be aware of, and the potential consequences of their decisions around their pets diet.