AI in France

copied from elsewhere.....

My note - The virus was discovered on Thursday and it says below that
local sources report 80% of 11,000 birds had died by the time this was
written early on Saturday. :-(


France confirms H5N1 bird flu found at turkey farm

Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:41 AM GMT

By David Evans

PARIS (Reuters) - France on Saturday confirmed the presence of the
deadly
H5N1 strain of bird flu at a farm in the east of the country where
thousands
of turkeys had died.

It was the first case of the virus in domestic farm birds in the
European
Union and threatened to deal a severe blow to France's struggling
poultry
industry, worth 6 billion euros ($7 billion) a year and the biggest in
the
bloc.

The outbreak was discovered on Thursday at the farm with 11,000 turkeys
in
the Ain department, where two cases of H5N1 had already been confirmed
in
wild ducks.

Laboratory tests by Afssa, France's national agency for nutritional
safety,
showed the virus found at the turkey farm was 99 percent homologous with
that found in one of the ducks, the Agriculture Ministry said in a
statement.

An investigation was under way to establish how the farm became
contaminated
with the virus, the ministry added.

"What worries us, and this is why we have reacted immediately, is that
the
farm is within the protection zone that we set up for the first duck,"
Farm
Minister Dominique Bussereau told French television on Friday, when the
authorities were testing for the virus.

Poultry sales in France are already down by about 30 percent.

The industry received another blow on Friday when Japan's embassy in
Paris
said Tokyo had imposed a temporary ban on imports of French poultry
products
after bird flu was found at the turkey farm.

"In France they have found a farm-raised fowl contaminated with the
virus.
It's Japan's policy to ban poultry imports" from countries hit by bird
flu,
an embassy spokesman said, adding that the ban was temporary and would
take
effect immediately.

The deadly virus is highly contagious among poultry and can spread
through
an entire flock within hours. It remains difficult for humans to catch
but
has killed more than 90 people worldwide. Experts say cooked poultry
meat is
safe to eat.

The virus has spread from Asia to Africa, and experts fear poultry in
more
regions around the world could soon be infected.

SECURITY ZONE

Local sources said about 80 percent of the turkeys at the French farm,
in a
region famous for the quality of its chickens, had died. The remaining
birds
were culled.

A security zone of three km (two miles) and a surveillance zone of seven
km
(five miles) had been set up around the farm as is usual under EU
emergency
measures, officials SAID.

Under EU rules, poultry meat, eggs and products from the zones set up
around
a bird flu infection site are blocked from the market, except for
certain
products that meet stringent conditions, such as heat-treated meat.

However, trade in these products may continue from other non-affected
parts
of the country.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has announced an aid package
for
the sector worth 52 million euros.

He travelled to Lyon on Friday, where authorities held a bird flu
simulation
exercise focussed on the potential arrival of infected people on a plane
from a bird flu-hit region.

France has permission from the EU for a limited vaccination programme in
geese and ducks in three departments in the west of the country believed
to
be at risk from migratory birds.

Bussereau said two of the departments had decided to opt for the
confinement
of fowl rather than vaccination.


--
Holly, in France
Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool.
http://la-plaine.chez-alice.fr

.

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