A farm in the Landes with 1,550 force-fed ducks is the subject of a very strong suspicion of infection by avian influenza H5N8.
After the detection on December 1 of a first French case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N8 in farmed birds, 17 outbreaks of infection in farms and 2 outbreaks affecting wildlife have so far been declared on the whole of France. Already present, the threat is still spreading this Tuesday.
A first very strong suspicion of infection by HPAI has indeed just been noted in a farm in the Landes department with 1,550 force-fed ducks, in Eugénie-les-Bains.
The first results of the analyzes carried out on the samples taken on the spot, and the observation of a significant mortality of these ducks, therefore lead the State services “to immediately apply very rigorous health protection measures around this exploitation”, they write in a press release.
34 municipalities under surveillance
By two decrees taken today, the Prefect of the Landes has thus placed the suspect breeding under health surveillance and ordered the preventive slaughter of the poultry still present. He also determined a temporary control zone of 10 kilometers around this force-feeding workshop. This zone includes the entire territory of the following 34 municipalities:
Among these 34 municipalities, 13 were already affected by the measures that had already been put in place, on December 12, 2016, in 16 municipalities by a very strong suspicion of infection in a Gers farm in the municipality of Ségos.
An epidemiological investigation is also underway in the farm that is the subject of this strong suspicion. “Its purpose is to perfectly specify the origin of sick animals, and their transport conditions (collection on the routes, transport, installation) to the place of force-feeding”, underlines the prefect of the Landes.
An extremely virulent strain of the virus
In addition to these measures, the latter asked the State services to be inflexible when monitoring the implementation, throughout the department, of the biosecurity conditions that professionals (operators agriculture, transporters, etc.).
These measures are planned and made compulsory because the viral strain H5N8 identified in the other departments and whose presence is suspected in the breeding of Eugénie-les-Bains is qualified as “extremely virulent”. This “both by the significant mortality it causes, especially among ducks, and by the speed of its dissemination”, specify the local authorities.
A new episode
At last, the Landes Prefecture recalls that these new cases have no link with the avian influenza episode that occurred in 2015 and 2016 in the southwest of France. They do not reflect an old and generalized spread of the strain in question either, and on the contrary strike structures and territories that have hitherto been unharmed.
In this context, the latest recommendations from the State services in the department are intended for the entire population. On the one hand, it must avoid frequenting areas where wild birds are stationed, including in their absence, due to the possible presence of viruses in the droppings and soiled soil. On the other hand, any contact with wild birds, dead or alive, is to be avoided.
And in case of contact, thorough cleaning and disinfection of affected areas or effects should be applied. Any discovery of a wild bird corpse must be immediately reported to the authorities (ONCFS, DDCSPP, Town halls, Gendarmerie) or to a veterinarian, who will be solely responsible for the possible transport and destruction of the corpses, concludes the Prefecture of this department.
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