With seven outbreaks detected in France, the avian flu is still under control

It is still far too early to declare victory, but if the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) epidemic remains at its current pace, the winter of 2023-2024 could well be one of respite on the avian flu front. As a reminder, exactly one year ago, at the start of 2023, France already had 263 outbreaks on farms, before peaking at 403 outbreaks at the end of the season (August 2023), leading to the slaughter of ten million poultry. During the previous season, in 2021-2022, the 1,378 outbreaks led to the slaughter of 22 million poultry, levels never before reached, and a financial cost of 1.2 billion euros. In 2020-2021, 3.3 million poultry were sacrificed for 492 outbreaks detected. So many figures which say nothing of the distress of the affected breeders and the ordeal endured by the agents and operators in charge of depopulation and disinfection. By affecting a number of hatcheries and breeding farms, the 2021-2022 epidemic had also revealed an existential risk for all poultry ...