France’s agriculture minister warned on Friday that “hundreds of thousands” of ducks would still have to be culled to halt a severe strain of bird flu devastating flocks in southwest France.
More than 400,000 ducks have already been slaughtered mainly in the Landes department, a bastion of France’s foie gras industry, and at least 200,000 more have already been announced.
Ducks roam in an outdoor enclosure in a farm in Benesse-Maremne, southwestern France in December 2015. Photo: AFP
“There will be hundreds of thousands more, that’s certain,” Julien Denormandie told France Bleu Gascogne radio ahead of a visit to farms hit by the outbreak, calling it “a race against the clock” against the “highly pathogenic” H5N8 virus.
France steps up duck cull as bird flu hits foie gras farms
The highly pathogenic H5N8 virus was first detected in a bird in a pet shop on the Mediterranean island of Corsica in November before spreading to duck farms on the mainland in December.
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PARIS: French authorities plan to expand their culls of ducks reared for the controversial delicacy foie gras as an outbreak of bird flu rips through the southwest of the country, a producers federation said Thursday.
The highly pathogenic H5N8 virus was first detected in a bird in a pet shop on the Mediterranean island of Corsica in November before spreading to duck farms on the mainland in December.
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2021-01-07 15:40:32 GMT2021-01-07 23:40:32(Beijing Time) Sina English
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Ducklings stand in an enclosure at a duck farm in Mugron, southwestern France, on December 29, 2020.
French authorities plan to expand their culls of ducks reared for the controversial delicacy foie gras as an outbreak of bird flu rips through the southwest of the country, a producers’ federation said on Thursday.
The highly pathogenic H5N8 virus was first detected in a bird in a pet shop on the Mediterranean island of Corsica in November before spreading to duck farms on the mainland in December.
“The virus is stronger than us. New clusters are constantly emerging,” said the head of the CIFOQ federation of foie gras producers, Marie-Pierre Pe, warning of a “runaway increase” in confirmed and suspected cases.
World sees little flu activity, but influenza B nudges ahead of influenza A
Despite extra efforts to test for flu against the backdrop of COVID-19, global levels remain well below expected levels for this time of year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update, which roughly covers the first half of December.
Compared with its last report, a greater proportion of the few respiratory samples that tested positive were influenza B: 62.8%, versus 50% in the previous update. Of the subtyped influenza A samples, most were H3N2, a trend seen in the WHO s earlier report.
In the Northern Hemisphere, sporadic flu cases were detected in some countries.