The disease is actively circulating in wildlife and is manifested during migrations to the South.
The situation is now stabilized in several affected areas of the Southwest but some new outbreaks are still being detected.
As a reminder, this avian influenza virus (H5N8) exclusively affects birds; it is not transmissible to humans who can safely consume meat of avian origin, eggs, foie gras and more generally any poultry food product.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food, Julien Denormandie, visited successively in the Landes on 8 January and then in the Gers on 11 January, in order to express the state's support for poultry sectors hit hard by this new outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (IAHP).
He also praised the services of the State and all those who are fully mobilized in the management of this crisis.
As of 22 March, France has 488 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in livestock confirmed by the ANSES National Reference Laboratory (NRL).
These households are divided into:
474 livestock outbreaks in the Southwest;
14 homes outside the Southwest;
It also recorded 16 cases in wildlife.
It is worth recalling the urgent need to ensure biosecurity on farms; the government has provided aid for this in the Recovery Plan.
The state will be present alongside the breeders concerned; their losses will be compensated in accordance with European and national regulations. A down payment system to compensate for the value of slaughtered animals is already in place.
Faced with an extremely contagious virus between birds this year, poultry farms must be depopulated quickly within a radius of 5 km, and movements prohibited within a radius of 20 km.
Based on an opinion issued on 7 January by ANSES, the following additional measures were taken:
Slaughter capacity will be significantly increased through the mobilization of the state-mandated provider, the mobilization of health veterinarians and the requisition of additional slaughterhouses;
The 10 km monitoring zone around the homes can be extended to 20 km, with a ban on the exit and entry of poultry (including to repopulate a farm that has completed its production cycle). These restrictions will be reassessed by the end of January, in line with the epidemiological assessment.
As of 12 February, 3 million poultry (mainly ducks) have been slaughtered in the South-West by order of the administration, following the detection of outbreaks or in a preventive manner.
The situation has stabilized in other departments affected by the virus since its introduction in France in mid-November. A new outbreak was confirmed on 15 March in the Upper Rhine in a backyard.
In wildlife, a sign that the H5N8 virus is circulating, 16 cases have been reported on animals found dead: geese geese (Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique); swans (Meurthe-et-Moselle, Loire, Allier and Lower Rhine); ash goose (Rhône Mouths); buzzard and gull (High Corsica), seagull (Landes), tadorne duck (Calvados), red-