Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Health | Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:46pm EST Related: HEALTH, FRANCE
French bird flu outbreak unlikely to turn into US-type crisis: OIE
PARIS | BY SYBILLE DE LA HAMAIDE
...
"It is an unprecedented situation to see the emergence of three different strains in such a short time," OIE Director General Bernard Vallat told Reuters in an interview.
Investigations were still ongoing but he said there could be two explanations. Either the strains were carried by migratory birds, or low pathogenic strains evolved into high pathogenic ones.
Vallat played down the situation, which has shaken France's major foie gras producing regions, coming just before demand peaks over the year-end holiday season.
"We are not in a situation like the one in the United States because the breeding methods are different and the strains less virulent," he said.
"Poultry farming in the departments hit is extremely active, notably for foie gras, but finally it did not spread that fast unlike other situations we have known where there were a lot of outbreaks," he said, referring to the United States.
...
Vallat insisted that the H5N2 and H5N9 strains had never been found in humans and that the H5N1 strain found in France was different from the Asian one that caused many human deaths.
...
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-birdlu-oie-idUSKBN0TT2KC20151210
French bird flu outbreak unlikely to turn into US-type crisis: OIE
PARIS | BY SYBILLE DE LA HAMAIDE
...
"It is an unprecedented situation to see the emergence of three different strains in such a short time," OIE Director General Bernard Vallat told Reuters in an interview.
Investigations were still ongoing but he said there could be two explanations. Either the strains were carried by migratory birds, or low pathogenic strains evolved into high pathogenic ones.
Vallat played down the situation, which has shaken France's major foie gras producing regions, coming just before demand peaks over the year-end holiday season.
"We are not in a situation like the one in the United States because the breeding methods are different and the strains less virulent," he said.
"Poultry farming in the departments hit is extremely active, notably for foie gras, but finally it did not spread that fast unlike other situations we have known where there were a lot of outbreaks," he said, referring to the United States.
...
Vallat insisted that the H5N2 and H5N9 strains had never been found in humans and that the H5N1 strain found in France was different from the Asian one that caused many human deaths.
...
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-birdlu-oie-idUSKBN0TT2KC20151210