France confirms highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu outbreak on duck farm

Agriculture Ministry of France says a highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu had been found on a duck farm in the southwest of the country, confirming France's first farm outbreak of the virus this year.

The outbreak was first reported on Monday but at the time it was unclear what strain of the virus it was.

Bird flu has been spreading rapidly in Europe, putting the poultry industry on alert after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds.

READ MORE: Dutch to cull 200,000 chickens after second case of bird flu detected

CIFOG director Marie-Pierre Pe said the latest case was discovered on Friday at a farm of about 6,000 ducks due to be force-fed, a technique used to make foie gras, in the town of Benesse-Maremne, near the city of Biarritz and the Spanish border.

"Initial tests have shown that it is an outbreak of H5 avian influenza but it remains to be seen whether it highly or low pathogenic and whether it is the H5N8 strain or another one," Pe told Reuters.

A security zone was set up around the farm even before the confirmation, something that was not done in 2016/2017 when a wave of bird flu led to the death and culling of millions of poultry, she said.

France has already detected the H5N8 virus on birds sold in three pet stores. Investigations found that the wild birds had been sold by the same person in northern France, the agriculture ministry said last week.

The spread of the virus in Europe prompted France to raise its bird flu security alert to "high" in early November, which requires keeping birds indoors or installing protective netting to prevent contact with wild birds that spread the disease.

READ MORE: Japan to cull 40,000 chickens after bird flu outbreak