PARIS: France has detected a low-pathogenic H5 bird flu virus on a duck farm in the centre of the country, the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Thursday, citing a report from the French agriculture ministry.
The virus was discovered among a flock of 2,600 ducks on a farm in the village of Marolle-en-Sologne in the Loir-et-Cher administrative department, the report posted on the OIE’s website showed.
The birds, which were free-ranging and bred for hunting, are to be culled.
The disease was detected as part of planned surveillance and the ducks had shown no clinical signs, the report added.
France reinforced bio-security measures after outbreaks of more severe forms of bird flu in recent years decimated duck and goose flocks notably bred to produce foie gras.
