The avian flu situation in France is getting worse
With a total of 197 outbreaks of avian influenza H5N8 counted at the end of last week, France has become a "scarecrow" for a neighbouring country as 170 of those outbreaks are placed in the regions bordering Spain. Five of these regions are listed in a ministerial decree n which a preventive slaughter of birds could be ordered. These include all the municipalities in the Gers, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrenees regions, and eleven municipalities in the Lot-et-Garonne region, according to Carnica magazine.
French Agriculture and Food Minister Julien Denormandie recalled that everything possible must be done to stop the spread of bird flu and protect the areas that are still free. Denormandie has described the virus as "extremely contagious among birds" and has insisted on the biosecurity of poultry farms.
To date, around 700,000 poultry, mainly ducks, have been slaughtered on the orders of the French administration after detection of outbreaks or preventively.
Despite the boom in outbreaks in the southwest of the neighbouring country, the situation seems to be stabilized in the rest of the regions affected by the virus since no new cases, domestic or wild, have been registered for 15 days. The first case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N8 was reported in France in mid-November.
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