B. whereas the number of people suffering from dementia in Europe is estimated to be 9.9 million, with Alzheimer's accounting for the vast majority of these (2010 report by Alzheimer's Disease International); taking into account that neurodegenerative diseases can affect people of all ages but represent one of the main causes of disability and dependence in older people, and that the number of people suffering from these diseases is expected to rise dramatically by 2020 owing to increased life expectancy and a lack of social life among the retired; whereas this figure for the number of people affected ...[+++]almost trebles when the number of informal carers of people with dementia are also taken into account,

The economic consequences of this disease for poultry farming are devastating.

There is no clear answer to this question, but we do know that the disease occurs amongst farmed poultry.

The distribution of the disease is influenced by the relationship between domesticated birds and wild birds, the location of poultry farms, the routes taken by migratory birds and the time of year.

Community support must be provided, as we have been advocating, in the event of an outbreak of the disease, given that this will cause poultry breeders to lose income as they restart their operations.

(4) Consolidated evidence including: freedom from disease affecting poultry; poultry disease surveillance and monitoring programmes; the development of appropriate contingency plans for poultry diseases; and, the development of the veterinary acquis in regard to general veterinary legislation and legislation in the poultry sector in advance of EU accession, has demonstrated that Estonia, Malta, Latvia and Lithuania have sufficiently well structured and organised veterinary services regarding the animal health status for live poultry and ratites.