France is suffering the worst outbreak of bird flu in the French history as a new wave of infections has reached the centers of poultry production in the Loire Valley and in Brittany. According to the French Ministry of Agriculture, 12.1 million animals have been killed in more than a thousand outbreaks in the past six months.
Avian influenza, caused by migratory birds, affected all 27 EU countries last fall, with the exception of Malta and Cyprus. While the epidemic had practically disappeared almost everywhere by the end of March, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), bird flu again spread rapidly in France last month. About 4 million geese and ducks were killed in the southwest of the country.
Since last October, the virus has been detected thousands of times in wild birds in the EU countries and hundreds of outbreaks have been reported in pets (backyard and commercial). In addition, the virus has also been found in mammals in several countries: in foxes in the Netherlands and Finland, in seals in Germany and Sweden and in otters in Finland.
German researchers from the FLI say that Europe has never experienced such a serious outbreak of bird flu. Previously, the virus mainly occurred in countries with many open waters, such as the Netherlands. This often only happened during the migration season, i.e. in the last months of the year. Now the virus also occurs in drier gebieden and is present all year round.
According to the French agriculture minister Julien Denormandie, vaccination will in the long run be the only real medicine against the recurring animal disease. He has already held discussions with the poultry sector about initial trials. According to him, the use of vaccines should not be a taboo, because there are no long-term alternative solutions.
In France, so many farms have to be cleared lately that in some cases there are no staff available. In such cases, breeders have been given permission to switch off the ventilation in the stables so that the tens of thousands of animals die of suffocation.
The practice, which is only allowed in the western part of the country, where about 25% of the poultry stock is kept, has come under fire from farmers' unions and animal welfare activists. In France, poultry is most often culled through euthanasia, using special gas units that ensure that animals do not suffer.
Pharmaceutical companies are already working on a vaccine against the virus, but not all countries want that. There are concerns about the safety of meat and eggs from vaccinated chickens and ducks. But with the virus spreading so quickly, more and more countries are seeing the need. At the beginning of this year, Dutch minister Henk Staghouwer also argued in favor of vaccination against bird flu in a EU ministerial meeting.