Bird flu in France

Saturday 25. Feb.

PARIS, France (Reuters) -- The European Union has urged its trading partners not to over-react to an outbreak of bird flu in France after Japan suspended all French poultry imports and threatened a similar an on the Netherlands.

Japan's move on Saturday caused alarm in Europe's two biggest poultry producers after tests confirmed the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu had hit a farm in eastern France, the first case of the virus in domestic farm birds in the EU.

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Friday 24. Feb.

PARIS, France (AP) -- The European Union's first outbreak of lethal H5N1 bird flu in commercial poultry was confirmed Saturday in France, the EU's largest poultry producer.

France's farming ministry said lab tests confirmed H5N1 in turkeys at a farm in the southeast Ain region, where thousands of the birds were found dead Thursday. The farm, which had more than 11,000 turkeys, has been sealed off and surviving birds slaughtered.

The spread of bird flu to commercial stocks in France, which has been working for months to prevent and prepare for an outbreak, served as a sobering sign for other developed countries that consider themselves well protected against the virus.

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