Bird Flu Hits Poultry Stocks at French Farm
THE lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has been confirmed at a turkey farm in France.
It is the first time the virus has been detected on a farm in an EU country. About 80 per cent of the birds on the farm in south-east France's Ain region have died in the past week and the rest have been culled.
The spread of bird flu to commercial stocks in France, which has been working for months to prevent and prepare for an outbreak, served as a sobering sign for other developed countries that consider themselves well protected against the virus.
Japan has already slapped a ban on importing French poultry and sales in France of poultry have fallen by 30 per cent.
France has some 200,000 farms that raise 900 million birds each year. In 2004, the French poultry sector generated more than £2 billion in revenues - more than 20 per cent of total EU production.
The country is to start vaccinating millions of birds against the disease in a bid to protect the industry. Scientists fear the H5N1 strain, which has spread from Asia to at least ten European countries and Africa, could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans, sparking a pandemic.
No human cases of bird flu have been reported in France or elsewhere in the EU.
The disease has killed at least 92 people elsewhere, mostly in south-east Asia. Before the outbreak in turkeys, the only confirmed French cases of H5N1 in birds were in two dead wild ducks found near the farm in the south-eastern town of Versailleux.
It is the first time the virus has been detected on a farm in an EU country. About 80 per cent of the birds on the farm in south-east France's Ain region have died in the past week and the rest have been culled.
The spread of bird flu to commercial stocks in France, which has been working for months to prevent and prepare for an outbreak, served as a sobering sign for other developed countries that consider themselves well protected against the virus.
Japan has already slapped a ban on importing French poultry and sales in France of poultry have fallen by 30 per cent.
France has some 200,000 farms that raise 900 million birds each year. In 2004, the French poultry sector generated more than £2 billion in revenues - more than 20 per cent of total EU production.
The country is to start vaccinating millions of birds against the disease in a bid to protect the industry. Scientists fear the H5N1 strain, which has spread from Asia to at least ten European countries and Africa, could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans, sparking a pandemic.
No human cases of bird flu have been reported in France or elsewhere in the EU.
The disease has killed at least 92 people elsewhere, mostly in south-east Asia. Before the outbreak in turkeys, the only confirmed French cases of H5N1 in birds were in two dead wild ducks found near the farm in the south-eastern town of Versailleux.
posted at 2/25/2006 07:39:00 AM
7 Comments:
Trouble everywhere. In New York one person got him self leather hides infiltrated with Anthrax and got himself sick. Then this bird flu is creating a great danger for humans.
I was hoping I could sell my Pixels at NEW ERA WISP
http://www.newerawisp.blogspot.com
But I spend a lot of time reading about health Hazzards. So much disattraction.
How many people gor infected wit hbird-flu in France?
But how sound are the projections for this actually infecting a lot of people with anything serious? 92 people is very few.
Guess I wont be having the coq au vin when I'm on holiday there:(
bird flu is a virus that is transmitted from bird to bird and in close contact to humans , as in asia from bird to human. the possiblility that it mutates so that it is transmitable from human to human is unpredictable. for mutations do not occur "on purpose". they transform aimlessly!!the only problem now is that cats can become infected and therefore bring it into the human household. therefore you should´t go stroking stray cats...otherwise the only ones who should be taking action and feeling bees buzzing in their bums should be the politicians and their subjekts....
as to say until now there havn´t been any human infected cases in europe.
so stay healthy. ta ta
And now there is a cat in Germany that has died of bird flu
Something we can't see will destroy us all eventually so live each day as if it were your last . 90% of us are already dead we just dont know it . Get unplugged get outdoors get a life anarchy is true freedom
Post a Comment
<< Home