“The situation is worrying”, warns the deputy director general of the health agency Anses

“Several outbreaks” of contamination have been identified “in the east of France but also in Brittany” according to Gilles Salvat.

“The situation is worrying”, alert Wednesday December 6 on France Inter Gilles Salvat, deputy director general of ANSES (National Agency for Health and Food Safety), while the government on Tuesday raised the level of risk linked to avian flu in mainland France to its maximum . This decision was taken in particular because of the presence of the virus in “wild birds which descend from North to South for their winter migration, passing over the territory” French.

The executive also takes precautions after the detection of “several homes” contaminated “in the east of France but also in Brittany”, explains Gilles Salvat. The authorities observed “since last week, four outbreaks, including three in Morbihan and one in the Somme, on turkeys which contaminated domestic birds, leading to the slaughter of these birds”. He believes that in recent weeks “a few tens of thousands of turkeys were slaughtered”.

The ducks seem spared for the moment

The Deputy Director General of ANSES also notes that unlike previous years, ducks seem spared by the virus. “We hope that it is linked to the fact that we vaccinate the ducks”, maintains Gilles Salvat. In fact, vaccination in farms of more than 250 ducks has been made compulsory in France. Since then, ANSES has recorded “8 million first doses administered and 6 million booster doses”.

To control the virus, the deputy director general of ANSES calls for “shelter the birds”but recognizes that “It’s not enough”. “It is therefore absolutely necessary to strengthen biosecurity measures, that is to say everything that the breeder does to avoid bringing the virus into their livestock”, pleads Gilles Salvat. He explains that for the moment no vaccination is authorized in France for turkeys. If “vaccines exist” and were notably tested in Italy, “they are much less effective”, assures the deputy general director of the health agency. He further specifies that “the Ministry of Agriculture considered that it was immediately difficult to vaccinate turkeys, because these vaccines do not currently have marketing authorization”.