Giuseppe
Emeritus
France lowers bird flu risk level to "weak"
11 Apr 2008 08:10:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) -
France's agriculture ministry lowered the level of risk for bird flu to weak from moderate on Friday due to positive developments in countries which have recently seen cases of the H5N1 virus in birds.
"Taking into account the evolution of the epidemiological situation of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus in wild birds in the United Kingdom and in Switzerland...(the agriculture ministry) has decided to lower the risk level from moderate to weak," the ministry said in a statement.
France raised its risk level to moderate late last month after Switzerland reported its first case in two years of the deadly H5N1 strain.
Britain's agriculture ministry said late in February that a dead wild Canada goose had tested positive for the H5N1 virus in an area where there have recently been 10 cases in mute swans.
France's "weak" alert level means live birds can be gathered together again in markets or for competitions.
Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.
(Reporting by Tamora Vidaillet; Editing by Margaret Orgill)
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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1158725.htm
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11 Apr 2008 08:10:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) -
France's agriculture ministry lowered the level of risk for bird flu to weak from moderate on Friday due to positive developments in countries which have recently seen cases of the H5N1 virus in birds.
"Taking into account the evolution of the epidemiological situation of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus in wild birds in the United Kingdom and in Switzerland...(the agriculture ministry) has decided to lower the risk level from moderate to weak," the ministry said in a statement.
France raised its risk level to moderate late last month after Switzerland reported its first case in two years of the deadly H5N1 strain.
Britain's agriculture ministry said late in February that a dead wild Canada goose had tested positive for the H5N1 virus in an area where there have recently been 10 cases in mute swans.
France's "weak" alert level means live birds can be gathered together again in markets or for competitions.
Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.
(Reporting by Tamora Vidaillet; Editing by Margaret Orgill)
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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1158725.htm
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