A case of avian influenza has been found on a duck farm in southwestern France, but it is unclear if the virus is highly contagious sub-type, APA reports citing Reuters.
France’s latest bird flu cases are part of a wider outbreak that has been spreading rapidly in Europe. The continent’s poultry industry is on high alert as previous outbreaks have led to the culling of tens of millions of birds.
CIFOG director Marie-Pierre Pe, leader of an industry group that represents foie gras and fattened poultry producers, said the latest case was discovered on Friday 4 December at a farm of about 6,000 ducks due to be force-fed - a technique used to make foie gras - in the town of Benesse-Maremne, near the city of Biarritz and the Spanish border.
"Initial tests have shown that it is an outbreak of H5 avian influenza but it remains to be seen whether it highly or low pathogenic and whether it is the H5N8 strain or another one," Pe told
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