Vaccination and less circulation: France almost spared from avian flu

Duck Meat

Published Mar 12, 2024

Tridge summary

Avian influenza outbreaks in France have significantly decreased since the start of the season in August 2023, compared to the same period the previous year. This is due to a combination of vaccination and reduced virus circulation in wildlife. France, which has been battling the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus since 2015, made it mandatory for farms with over 250 ducks to vaccinate in 2023. As of early March, 21.6 million ducks have been vaccinated. The success of this campaign may lead to its expansion to other species, subject to cost evaluations.

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Original content

In total, only 10 poultry outbreaks and 22 wild cases have been recorded in France since the start of the season in August 2023, according to the latest weekly bulletin from the French epidemiological surveillance platform in animal health (ESA) collecting data up to to March 3. At the same time last year (as of March 5, 2023), 307 poultry outbreaks, 85 captive bird outbreaks (zoos, backyards and ornamental birds) and 323 wild cases had been detected. The combination of “two favorable conditions” – vaccination and less circulation of the virus in wildlife – “has an impact on the number of outbreaks detected in France,” said Béatrice Grasland, head of the national reference laboratory for avian influenza at Anses. “Other countries also produce ducks, notably in Hungary, and do not vaccinate, and the number of affected farms was much greater there,” she underlined. France, particularly affected by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus since 2015, slaughtered more than ...

Source: Pleinchamp