“Europe has been recording a dynamic spread of the avian influenza virus for several weeks” and “the infection pressure linked to migratory wildlife will gradually increase,” explains the ministry. Several infected wild birds were found in the Meuse, Camargue and Morbihan, where “a turkey farm was declared a source” of avian flu.
This Wednesday, the level of risk linked to avian flu in the French metropolitan territory will be raised from “negligible” to “moderate”, the Official Journal announced this Tuesday. This decree from the Ministry of Agriculture, “qualifying the level of highly pathogenic avian influenza risk, is taken following the identification of infection dynamics in migratory wild avifauna in neighboring countries and aims to strengthen measures surveillance and prevention”, it is specified in the OJ. The epizootic risk to poultry and other captive birds in the event of infection of wild birds with a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus is classified into three categories: “negligible”, “moderate” and “high”. . This risk was lowered to “negligible” in July. Before that, France had remained at a “high” risk level from November 2022, before dropping to “moderate” in April. Avian flu, which is prevalent in Europe, Asia, Africa and Asia, has led to the euthanasia of tens of millions of poultry in recent years in France.
In the hope of finally controlling the virus, the government has made vaccination against avian flu compulsory in farms with more than 250 ducks, excluding breeding ducks, since October 1. Ducks have been identified as a vector for the spread of the virus as they excrete it into the environment several days before showing symptoms. According to the latest weekly bulletin from the French animal health epidemiological surveillance platform, 48 outbreaks of avian flu have been detected in Europe since August 1, mainly in the United Kingdom, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Outbreaks have also recently emerged in Italy, “in an area with a high density of livestock farming”. “The active downward migration routes of wild birds in Europe are heavily contaminated (…). These detections concern both northern Europe and central Europe and particularly the direct upstream of migration routes concerning France (Denmark, Netherlands, Germany),” it is noted in the bulletin. “A mobilization of all stakeholders in the poultry production sector is necessary to limit the current and future risk,” it is added.