(Prensa Latina) French authorities confirmed today the detection of a second outbreak of avian influenza in duck farms in southwestern Landas department, where they activated a health prevention plan.
The disease is spreading, the local prefecture acknowledged in a statement, in which it reported the finding of viral contagion in birds of the Saint-Geours-de-Maremne commune, after the finding early this week of the first outbreak not far from there, in Benesse-Maremne.
A laboratory of the National Health Security Agency analyzed samples of ducks and certified the presence of this feared infectious disease, which typically does not attack human beings, although there have been cases of highly pathogenic strains that cause serious respiratory problems in humans.
Landas’s Prefecture warned people that their clothes, cars, and other materials can carry the virus if they had contact with infected birds, and called on all the actors of the sector, from breeders to veterinarians, to be vigilant.
The outbreak in Benesse-Maremne led to the slaughter of 6,000 ducks, which aggravated the crisis in the foie-gras production in southwestern France.