France reports bird flu on turkey farms as disease spreads in Europe

PARIS (Reuters) - France has detected an outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu virus on a turkey farm in the northwest of the country, the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday, as a seasonal wave of infections spreads across Europe. The outbreak in the Brittany region, the first agricultural case in France this autumn, occurred close to where an infected wild bird was found, the ministry said in a statement. Several cases among wild birds have been recorded in recent days, he said, adding that the government has raised its national alert level for bird flu from negligible to moderate. Flocks of birds in areas particularly exposed to contact with wild birds would now be confined indoors, the ministry said. Bird flu, commonly known as bird flu, has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds in recent years. It generally occurs in Europe during autumn and winter and has recently been detected on farms in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Croatia and ...