FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

[Theresa42]

babelfished from French:

Discovered of 69 dead ducks close to Nice, analyses in progress
samedi 16 septembre 2006, 8h31

NICE (AFP) - The corpses of 69 wild ducks have been discovered for Thursday near the mouth of the river Cagne, to Cagnes-on-Sea (the Alpes-Maritimes), and were entrusted to the departmental veterinary services for purposes of analyses, one learned Friday near the departmental direction from the veterinary services (DDSV) of the Alpes-Maritimes.

"The autopsies of the animals began Friday morning. No obvious cause of death was raised", explained to AFP Eric Coulibaly, chief of the service animal sant?/protection with the DDSV.

"Within the framework of the programme of monitoring of the aviary influenza, of the taking away were sent for analysis to the laboratory of reference of the south-eastern zone, in Ain. The results are waited Monday evening", it added.

The DDSV is said "vigilant and careful but not worries" in connection with this discovery: "the wild ducks are not known like most sensitive to the aviary influenza and there exists much of other possible causes of such a massive mortality".

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/16092006/202/decouverte-de-69-canards-morts-pres-de-nice-analyses-en.html

 

[Sharpe]

Re: FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

Last year, reports of dead birds along the Mediterannean coasts of Europe, Israel, Turkey, and North Africa began in mid-October and rapidly accelerated until January, at which point they exploded in number.

This year, in late August, we heard of ducks dying in Cyprus, followed by multiple reports from northern and central Egypt, and now the southern coast of France in mid-September. This year is already beginning much faster.

 

[Harriet]

Re: FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

France confirms bird flu strain

Saturday, 25 February 2006, 06:19 GMT

The authorities are taking steps to prevent the virus spreading
France has confirmed the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 has been found on a turkey farm in the east of the country.
It is the first time a European Union farm has been infected. France has already had cases in two wild ducks.

About 400 of more than 11,000 birds at the farm have died in the past week, and the rest have been culled.

Despite assurances that cooked poultry is safe, sales in France have fallen by 30%, and Japan has announced an import ban with immediate effect.

France, Europe's largest poultry producer, is to start vaccinating millions of birds against bird flu to try to protect its 7bn euros ($8bn) a year poultry industry.

In other developments:


A 27-year-old woman becomes Indonesia's 20th human to die from bird flu, the health ministry there reports

Chickens at a poultry farm in Gujarat, India, develop bird flu but officials say it is not clear if they are carrying the H5N1 virus.

Slovakia confirms its first cases of H5N1 in a wild falcon and a grebe.
Poultry sales fall

"The H5N1 virus is confirmed as the cause of the death of turkey farmed in the Ain department," the ministry said in a statement.

This is the confirmation that the whole of the French poultry industry feared, says the BBC's Alasdair Sandford in Lyon.

The farm in Versailleux, where so many turkeys fell ill on Thursday, lay just 200 metres from the lake where the first case of bird flu among wild ducks in France was confirmed last weekend.

The farmer then appeared on French television demonstrating the precautions he was taking to prevent his turkeys, who were kept indoors, from catching the virus.

The latest developments will lead to questions about just how efficient the protective measures are, our correspondent says.

Pandemic risk


The outbreak at Versailleux is the first on a farm in the EU
The vaccination programme approved by the EU this week, initially opposed by several countries, will be limited to birds in specific high-risk regions.

Ducks and geese will be inoculated in three areas in the west and south-west thought to be at high risk, among them the coastal Landes region.

Poultry sales have plunged in Italy, Greece and France since the confirmation of H5N1 outbreaks.

Eight EU countries - Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia - have so far confirmed cases of the lethal H5N1 strain.

H5N1 has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since late 2003.

It can be caught by humans who handle infected birds, but is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.

Scientists have warned that if the virus mutates, it could create a pandemic that could kill millions of people

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4749666.stm

 

[Theresa42]

Re: FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

France confirms bird flu strain

Saturday, 25 February 2006, 06:19 GMT

The authorities are taking steps to prevent the virus spreading
France has confirmed the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 has been found on a turkey farm in the east of the country.

It is the first time a European Union farm has been infected. France has already had cases in two wild ducks.

[*snip*]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4749666.stm

Just a note that this article is about the outbreak in France back in February. Just so no one gets confused.

 

[Harriet]

Re: FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

 

[tsalagiT]

Re: FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

France confirms bird flu strain

The farm in Versailleux, where so many turkeys fell ill on Thursday, lay just 200 metres from the lake where the first case of bird flu among wild ducks in France was confirmed last weekend.

The farmer then appeared on French television demonstrating the precautions he was taking to prevent his turkeys, who were kept indoors, from catching the virus.
The latest developments will lead to questions about just how efficient the protective measures are, our correspondent says.

Would be interesting to see that tv clip, to see exactly what his bio-security methods entailed. Just exactly how was this guy going about this, and where could he have improved his efforts. Or, perhaps none of the attempts at bio-security really matter after all, in the long run. IMO, this is a bit worriesome to hear.

 

[Marcie]

Re: FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

Leads me to wonder where the farmer gets his water for his turkeys. From the lake where the ducks died, maybe?

 

[Theresa42]

Re: FRANCE - Dead ducks found near Nice being tested

Once again...

France confirms bird flu strain

Saturday, 25 February 2006, 06:19 GMT

The authorities are taking steps to prevent the virus spreading
France has confirmed the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 has been found on a turkey farm in the east of the country.

It is the first time a European Union farm has been infected. France has already had cases in two wild ducks.

[*snip*]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4749666.stm

Just a note that this article is about the outbreak in France back in February. Just so no one gets confused.