France - 4 ducks found dead test positive for bird flu

[Diane Morin]

Officials: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
METZ, France: Four ducks found dead in a pond in eastern France have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, officials said Tuesday.

The four ducks were found Aug. 8 in an area known as Diane Capelle, in the Moselle region, the regional prefecture said in a statement.

Since late June, five dead swans found in the region also have tested positive for the deadly strain of the virus. Two of them were found in the Diane Capelle area, while the other three were found about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the site.

On Tuesday, Moselle's prefecture extended measures to protect domestic fowl from wild birds that had been put in place after the first case of swan deaths, the statement said.

Bird flu is believed to spread along bird migration routes, and the H5N1 strain has been found in poultry farms in three other EU countries this year: Hungary, Britain and the Czech Republic, the European Commission has said.

France experienced a bird flu scare after an outbreak of the lethal disease in February 2006 in the eastern Ain region. It was quickly contained and a vaccination campaign of fowl was launched. However, dozens of countries briefly suspended imports of fowl and luxury items like foie gras from France.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/14/europe/EU-GEN-France-Bird-Flu.php

[HenryN]

Re: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

France: virus H5N1 confirmed on four ducks VARIOUS mar August 14 Four ducks were confirmed positive with highly pathogenic virus H5N1 of the aviary influenza, in the Moselle where the disease had already been detected on two swans at the end of July. "Four ducks found died on the pond of Diane-Capelle on last 8 August were confirmed positive with virus H5N1 by the national laboratory of reference of Ploufragan Tuesday August 14, 2007", specified the prefecture in an official statement. July 29, two swans were found in this pond and the analyses showed that they died of virus H5N1. The aviary influenza was detected for the first time at the end of June on the corpses of three other swans, in the pond of Assenoncourt to approximately ten kilometers of the pond of Diane-Capelle. (GFR)

http://www.rtlinfo.be/news/article/24007/--France:+virus+H5N1+confirm%C3%A9+sur+quatre+canards

[hawkeye]

Re: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

begin the cycle.

[HenryN]

Re: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

Four ducks found with H5N1 bird flu virus in France
Posted: 15 August 2007 0327 hrs
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PARIS : Four ducks found dead last week in northeast France had the H5N1 strain of bird flu that can be fatal to humans, officials said on Tuesday.

Two dead swans had already been discovered to have the bird flu in late July at the Diane Capelle pond in the Moselle department, just 10 kilometres from where three other swans were found dead with the virus at the end of June.

In accordance with EU norms, an exclusion zone and a wider observation zone were set up around the pond after the discovery of the ducks on August 8.

Last year, 63 birds had tested positive for the H5N1 virus in France. - AFP/de

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/294008/1/.html

[HenryN]

Re: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

begin the cycle.

Continue the cycle.

[HenryN]

Re: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

Ducks were tested positive with virus H5N1 on the pond of Diane-Capelle, where the disease had already been detected on two swans at the end of July. The aviary influenza is always present in the Moselle. According to the prefecture, four ducks found dead on August 8 were confirmed positive with virus H5N1 in the pond of Diane-Capelle, this commune of the east of France where the aviary influenza had been detected already on two swans two weeks ago. The prefecture recalls that "the aviary influenza until now was insulated only on wild birds". "the risk of transmission to the man is negligible in the absence of close contact and durable with an infected bird", it adds. Perimeter of control The prefectoral decree which defines a perimeter of control of 1 km around this pond as well as a broader perimeter of observation concerning 35 communes of the country of the ponds thus finds prolonged until September 8. The device of protection measures remains unchanged. It relates to in particular the captive birds, mainly the poultries of breeding, which are confined, low-course included. The wheels of vehicles entering the poultry exploitations must be cleaned and "only the essential people with the control of the breeding can penetrate inside the sites of breedings". These people must moreover change shoes or pass in a foot bath disinfecting to reach the poultries. The gatherings and exposures of birds are also prohibited, just like the practice of hunting and to release it game in the zone. Dogs and cats must finally be held leaves some or locked up "to prevent that they come into contact with possible wild birds", according to the prefecture.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/france/20070814.WWW000000354_quatre_nouveaux_cas_de_grippe_aviaire_en_moselle.html

[HenryN]

Re: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08140702/H5N1_France_Ducks.html

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: 4 ducks found dead in eastern France test positive for bird flu

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08...nce_Ducks.html

Commentary

H5N1 Confirmed in Dead Ducks in France
Recombinomics Commentary
August 14, 2007

Four ducks found dead last week in northeast France had the H5N1 strain of bird flu that can be fatal to humans, officials said on Tuesday.

Two dead swans had already been discovered to have the bird flu in late July at the Diane Capelle pond in the Moselle department, just 10 kilometres from where three other swans were found dead with the virus at the end of June.

The above comments provide additional evidence for endemic H5N1 in Europe. As noted, this is the third outbreak detected in northeastern France over an extended time period. All positives were dead wild birds, which involved swans in the first two outbreaks and ducks in the most recent outbreak.

Over the summer there is little long range migration in France. Similarly, over the same time period there were multiple outbreaks in Germany in the central and southern portion of the country, involving multiple species. The largest was a Kelbra Lake where almost 300 H5N1 positive birds were found. Initially, the vast majority of birds were black necked grebes, but additional species of grebes, swans, and coots have tested positive. The most recent reported positives were dead ducks near Munich. In the Czech Republic, at least one dead swan has also tested positive.

These data strongly support endemic H5N1 in the region. Although FAO just published a five page report on H5N1 in Europe in 2007, the report provided no new information, although the authors suggested the source of the H5N1 in the wild birds was unknown.

However, there is little evidence against endemic H5N1. The wild birds died in the middle of the summer, so the prior hypothesis of open water searches in the dead of winter, which was used to explain the widespread H5N1 in February, 2006 does not apply. Although H5N1 went largely undetected between June 2006 and June 2007, there is little evidence that H5N1 ?disappeared? from wild bird population. Most positives before and after the ?disappearance? were in resident birds, and reports of H5N1 in domestic poultry has been minimal.

Germany had the largest number of H5N1 wild bird positives in Europe 2006 and 2007, yet in 2006 there was only one reported outbreak in domestic poultry (turkeys in Saxony, far from the vast majority of positive wild birds in Germany) ,and a single duck in 2007, which was a pet. The failure to detect H5N1 in other domestic birds supported infection of the lone domestic duck by wild birds, which were positive in multiple regions over an extended time period in central Germany.

The multiple positives in multiple locations in Germany, France, and the Czech Republic again raises serious questions about H5N1 surveillance systems in neigh boring countries, where endemic H5N1 in wild birds is a near certainty.

.

[HenryN]

Re: France - 4 ducks found dead test positive for bird flu

300 ducks and swans cut down in the Moselle to find the origin of the H5N1 METZ (AFP) August 17, 2007 17h18 Three hundred ducks and swans will be cut down on the pond of Diane-Capelle (the Moselle), where birds deceased of the H5N1 were discovered, in order to determine the origin of the aviary flu virus, announced Friday prefecture of the Moselle. On the whole, 100 fuligules pochards (a plunger duck species), 100 swans and 100 ducks mallards will be killed and analyzed to determine "how the virus was transmitted", explained to AFP Luc Ankri, the sub-prefect theSaline ones. "the swans which were found died and carrying the virus are sedentary. And the ducks mallards remain an unknown factor. For the moment, the assumption is that the fuligule pochard, which is migrating, would have transmitted the H5N1 to the other species ", declared Mr. Ankri. These plunger ducks, arrived of Germany, are already suspect?s to have imported the aviary influenza in the area of Dombes (Ain) last year. "this assumption thus should be refined", it continued. Rather than of autopsier the only animal ones died, of the taking away of feathers and wings of birds and swans will be carried out to include/understand "from where they come, how they move, how they arrived here", noticed Philippe Hestroffer, of the Management of the veterinary services of the Moselle. Analyses will be then carried out in the Moselle and in Coast-in Or, then at the laboratory of reference of Ploufragan (Coast-in Armor), if the corpses are carrying virus H5N1. The first results will be known from here five to six days, according to Luc Ankri. The duck shootings began at the beginning of week, according to the sub-prefect. The demolition of the swans, a protected species, is slightly differed, in waiting of an authorization, of the same source. Four ducks were confirmed positive with virus H5N1 Tuesday in the pond of Diane-Capelle, where the aviary influenza had already been detected on two swans at the end of July. Three other swans had been found died at the end of June in the pond close to Assenoncourt. Source: http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/fr...51838.3neqnzb9
Credit: Gerard on Influenzah5n1