France confirms first case of H5N1 bird flu
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-02-19 10:50

PARIS (AFP) - The H5N1 strain of bird flu which can be lethal to humans has been detected in a wild duck found dead in France, the agriculture ministry said, making it the sixth EU country to be hit.

Tests on the bird, found in the central-eastern Ain department on Monday, confirmed that it was carrying the highly pathogenic strain of the flu, the ministry said in a statement.

It was the first case of H5N1 bird flu in the country, which is western Europe's main crossroads for migratory

birds, potential carriers of the virus.

The French government also said that all necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus in the event of the duck being contaminated by the H5N1 strain had already been taken on Friday as a precaution.

The government had also ordered all poultry and tame birds to be kept indoors, to prevent contamination from wild birds.

All farm ducks and geese were to be vaccinated in three departments on the Atlantic coast.

A three-kilometre (two-mile) safety cordon has has been set up around the spot where the duck was found, near the town of Joyeux, and wildlife surveillance stepped up across a 10-kilometre area.

Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau earlier Saturday visited the pond in Joyeux where the dead wild duck had been discovered.

He hailed the quick response of officials.

"It is the application of regulations which allowed us to immediately discover... a bird which was carrying the virus," he said.

Initial tests had shown the duck was carrying the H5 bird flu virus, which further testing revealed to be the highly dangerous H5N1 strain.

Tests were still being carried out on two other dead ducks, found in a wildlife reserve at the mouth of the Somme river near the north coast.

Within the European Union, the H5N1 virus also has been detected in the member states of Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy and Slovenia.

Other European countries where the virus has been found include Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine and Russia.

The virus's advance to the western edge of continental Europe caused shivers in Britain, where Animal Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said it was now more likely to jump the English Channel.

"It is more likely now than it was, but it is not inevitable," said Bradshaw after France announced its initial test results confirming the presence of H5 in the duck.

"It's still only in wild birds. It hasn't been found in any poultry so far in EU countries this time," he told the BBC. "But clearly the closer it gets to us the risk grows. But the risk, according to vets, is still low."

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has drawn up plans to set up one-mile (1.6 kilometre) exclusion zones if any wild bird is found in Britain to be infected with H5N1.

Inside the zone, all poultry movements would be halted, and if any poultry was found to be infected the entire flock would face being culled.