#11,968
Yesterday there were scattered reports of a duck die off at a farm in Southwest France, and this morning the MOA announced that HPAI H5N8 has been confirmed. Media reports indicate the die off began on Sunday.
This confirmation comes only 4 days after the virus was confirmed in dead wild birds near Calais, in the north of the country.
A rather succinct report has just been posted on the French Agricultural Ministry website (see below).
Situation 2 December 2016: a case detected in a duck farm
Following the confirmation of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 outbreak on 1 December 2016 in the town of Almayrac Tarn, management measures were immediately implemented.
Learn more about the epidemiological surveillance Animal Health platform .
List of outbreaks on farms
Pas-de-Calais: 1 homeTarn: 1 home
A highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 was confirmed on 1 December 2016 on a farm duck in the Tarn (town of Almayrac). Among the 5,000 ducks that involved the exploitation, 2000 ducks died.
List of outbreaks in wildlife
On November 26, a first case H5N8 was confirmed in the municipality of Marck (Pas-de-Calais) on 20 wild ducks used as decoys for hunting waterfowl.
France's poultry industry - particularly those in the southern region - have been plagued with both LPAI and HPAI outbreaks over the past 12 months from five recently emerged European lineage H5 viruses (see DEFRA: Update On HPAI & LPAI Avian Flu Outbreaks in France).
While those outbreaks diminished over the summer, the arrival of HPAI H5N8 - which has proven itself to be unusually virulent in birds - threatens an already battered industry.
Meanwhile, H5N8 continues to spread across Europe, the Middle East, and is making inroads into Africa.
