France on red alert for deadly bird flu strain
AFP
Feb 24, 2006
PARIS- France was on high alert Friday for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu after confirming the broad H5 type had been found on a turkey farm in the east of the country, Europe's biggest poultry producer.
If more tests confirm the H5N1 sub-type, which can be lethal to humans, it would be the first such outbreak on a farm in the European Union.
Meanwhile, five new suspected cases of bird flu have been identified in wild swans in eastern France, local authorities said Friday.
The swans were also found in the central-eastern Ain department, where France's two confirmed cases of H5N1 bird flu were found, both in wild ducks.
Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau told France 2 television that the "highly pathogenic H5 virus" had been confirmed at an indoor farm containing 11,000 turkeys in the Ain department.
He said only "complete" test results - being carried out at a government laboratory in Brittany and expected later Friday - would tell whether the birds had the H5N1 strain.
"What concerns us is that the farm is within the security perimeter that we set up for the first duck" carrying the H5N1 virus, a wild bird discovered 10 days ago in the village of Joyeux, Bussereau said.
At least 400 turkeys were found dead on Thursday and the rest of the farm's 11,000 birds were slaughtered during the day.
full story
Feb 24, 2006
PARIS- France was on high alert Friday for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu after confirming the broad H5 type had been found on a turkey farm in the east of the country, Europe's biggest poultry producer.
If more tests confirm the H5N1 sub-type, which can be lethal to humans, it would be the first such outbreak on a farm in the European Union.
Meanwhile, five new suspected cases of bird flu have been identified in wild swans in eastern France, local authorities said Friday.
The swans were also found in the central-eastern Ain department, where France's two confirmed cases of H5N1 bird flu were found, both in wild ducks.
Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau told France 2 television that the "highly pathogenic H5 virus" had been confirmed at an indoor farm containing 11,000 turkeys in the Ain department.
He said only "complete" test results - being carried out at a government laboratory in Brittany and expected later Friday - would tell whether the birds had the H5N1 strain.
"What concerns us is that the farm is within the security perimeter that we set up for the first duck" carrying the H5N1 virus, a wild bird discovered 10 days ago in the village of Joyeux, Bussereau said.
At least 400 turkeys were found dead on Thursday and the rest of the farm's 11,000 birds were slaughtered during the day.
full story
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