A new outbreak of avian flu detected in the southwest of France

A new outbreak of “highly pathogenic” avian flu has been detected in a farmyard in the South-West, accentuating fears of an increase in cases in areas located in wild bird migration corridors.

This new outbreak was highlighted on November 6 in Lansac, in Gironde, in a private home and the sick animals or animals “susceptible to being carriers of the virus” were slaughtered on Sunday, the prefecture said on Thursday. Strict regulatory health measures have been introduced, including the establishment of regulated surveillance and protection zones, in particular limiting the transport of poultry. In the neighboring department of Landes, the main producer of fatted ducks and renowned for its poultry, the first outbreak of the season was detected at the start of the week.

The virus is “widely present in wildlife and likely to contaminate captive birds and poultry,” recalls the Gironde prefecture. It also warns of the “resurgence of cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza recently detected in wild birds in neighboring countries and in particular in the avifauna migration corridors shared with France”, where the level of epizootic risk in terms of highly pathogenic avian influenza went from “negligible” to “moderate” on November 5.

British authorities announced on Wednesday the confinement of poultry throughout England from Friday, to deal with the increase in outbreaks of avian flu. An outbreak was also discovered on Monday in a farmyard in Seine-Maritime, after the slaughter in early September of nearly 7,600 animals on a duck farm in Maine-et-Loire. At the end of the epizootic of winter 2025-2026, the risk level was lowered to “negligible” at the beginning of June, after having been downgraded for the first time from “high” to “moderate” on April 26, allowing the lifting of the systematic obligation of poultry confinement. Since the fall of 2023, vaccination in farms of more than 250 ducks has been compulsory in France, a strategy which, according to experts, has made it possible to avoid major epizootics over the past two years.