This episode is the most severe that the country has experienced, accustomed to seeing cases concentrated in farms in the South-West.

Since the first case identified in the north of France at the end of November, nearly 1,000 farms have been infected with the virus, including at least 450 in Vendée, where the authorities are in the process of emptying poultry farms through mass slaughter of sick but also healthy animals - preventively.

In a few weeks, the balance sheet in this hitherto unscathed department has become much heavier than that of Landes (231), a production area regularly affected since 2015.

The number of cases is also increasing in the departments bordering Vendée: 70 in Loire-Atlantique, 58 in Maine-et-Loire.

Nearly half of the ten million animals slaughtered in France due to this crisis come from the Pays de la Loire region, the second largest production territory for French poultry after Brittany, where two cases have also recently been identified.

The devastating rebound of avian flu has taken poultry farmers by surprise in a farming world already stunned by soaring cereal prices IROZ GAIZKA AFP/Archives

Ordinarily, crises linked to avian influenza remain generally confined to the South-West, in particular to duck farms intended for the production of foie gras.

Last year, nearly 500 outbreaks were recorded in farms and 3.5 million animals, mainly ducks, slaughtered.

According to the latest bulletin from the French platform for epidemiological surveillance in animal health (ESA), the farms affected in Pays de la Loire are "mainly" "palmiped farms (fat or lean) but a wide variety of production types are affected. : mule ducks, Peking ducks, Muscovy ducks, turkeys, quails, pheasants, broilers, laying hens. Breeding farms are also affected".

In the South-West, the number of outbreaks "is stabilizing, although new sporadic outbreaks of infection are still detected", says the same source.

A total of 34 European countries have been affected by the virus this year.

In addition to French farms, those in northern Italy were particularly affected, with 18 million poultry slaughtered.

© 2022 AFP