Caution. The level of risk linked to avian flu in the French metropolitan territory will be raised on Wednesday from “negligible” to “moderate”, the Official Journal indicates this Tuesday.
“This order 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 surveillance and prevention measures,” is it specified in the OJ. The epizootic risk to which poultry and other captive birds are exposed in the event of infection of wild birds with a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) is classified into three categories, “negligible”, “moderate” and “high”. .
Tens of millions of poultry euthanized
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. The avian flu epidemic, which is also affecting America, Europe and Asia, has led to the euthanasia of tens of millions of poultry in recent years in France.
Since the summer of 2021, it has caused the slaughter of 32 million poultry. France has observed an endemization of the virus among local wildlife, whereas the virus previously arrived via migratory birds. In the hope of finally controlling the virus, the government has made vaccination compulsory on farms of more than 250 ducks, excluding breeding ducks, from October 1.