After the detection of an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza on December 16 in a duck farm in Gers, the first in the South-West, the prefecture announced on Monday that it had ordered the preventive slaughter of palmipeds from seven other farms in the department.
The breeding of ducks ready to force-feed, located in the town of Manciet,
“has been depopulated and disinfected”
and the preventive slaughter of palmipeds from two other farms in the Gers
“in epidemiological connection”
with this outbreak is in place.
It
will also "be carried out"
in five other farms located within a radius of three kilometers, according to a statement.
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Stating that
“the objective is to limit the spread of the virus”
of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1, the prefecture recalled that
“a protection zone (3 km) and a surveillance zone (10 km) around the first outbreak have been established ”
and
“ the movement of poultry prohibited in these areas where strict sanitary measures must be observed ”. "The outbreak of avian influenza in Manciet is the 8th in breeding listed in France"
after seven in the Nord department, according to the text.
For its part, the prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques announced Monday that an outbreak had been detected in Came, a town bordering Hastingues (Landes) where another outbreak had been confirmed on Sunday. From the beginning of November, the health authorities had asked all producers in mainland France to confine their poultry in order to avoid contact with migratory birds potentially carrying the virus. France has around 20,000 poultry farms raised for meat, eggs or foie gras, of which the South-West is the main production sector.
The virus was identified for the first time on November 26 in the North, in the town of Warhem where 160,000 laying hens were reared in buildings.
In each case in breeding, the animals are slaughtered.
Avian influenza viruses continue to circulate actively in Europe through migratory birds.
Twenty-nine countries are now affected throughout the European continent, which has nearly 400 outbreaks in breeding and 700 cases in wildlife, according to the French Ministry of Agriculture.
France has been affected by three bird flu epizootics since the end of 2015. That of last winter affected 15 departments and led to the slaughter of 3.5 million farmed poultry.
