Three cases of avian flu have been detected in the Dordogne, a department which had until then remained sheltered from the severe epizootic of avian flu affecting France, the prefecture said in a press release on Sunday.
Over 40,000 ducks and 1,000 geese
“The highly pathogenic avian influenza epizootic (…) has now been identified in the Dordogne. Three strong suspicions were confirmed in the Dordogne on April 1 and 2 by positive analyzes for the IA-H5 and IA-H7 viruses”, specifies the prefecture. Two farms in the town of Val de Louyre and Caudeau are concerned, “one of 19,000 ducks having presented clinical signs, the other of 22,000 ducks aged 21 days”. The third case was detected in Saint-Géniès, north of Sarlat, in a farm of 670 geese and 350 goslings.
In these three sites, “preventive slaughter sites have been set up”, indicates the prefecture. A fourth farm, also located in the town of Val de Louyre and Caudeau, was subject to preventive depopulation after a “very high mortality” of its meat poultry was observed there.
France particularly affected
The 2021-2022 avian flu epizootic is the most severe to have affected France, with more than 1,100 outbreaks in breeding and more than ten million poultry slaughtered, a record.
The west of France, and especially the Vendée department (500 households as of March 31), is particularly affected. More than the Southwest, a region regularly affected since 2015 by this virus and in particular its many duck farms intended for the production of foie gras.
This virus exclusively affects birds. It circulates in wild fauna and manifests itself during migrations. A total of 34 European countries have been affected this year. Northern Italy was particularly affected, with 18 million farmed poultry culled.