Bird flu risk has risen from negligible to moderate in France

The risk level of avian flu in metropolitan France will be raised from "negligible" to "moderate" on Wednesday, the Official Journal said on Tuesday. "This decree classifying the risk level as highly pathogenic avian influenza is taken following the identification of infection dynamics in migratory wild birds in neighboring countries and aims to strengthen surveillance and prevention measures," the Official Journal stated. There is indeed a "possibility of the virus spreading through these migratory birds, passing through metropolitan France," the publication said. The epizootic risk to which poultry and other captive birds are exposed in the event of infection of wild birds by a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus is classified into three categories, "negligible", "moderate" and "high". This risk had been lowered to "negligible" at the end of April 2024. Before that, France had remained at the "high" risk level from the beginning of December 2023. Read also Avian flu: ...