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BIRD FLU

France reports case of bird flu in Dordogne

A case of bird flu has been detected in France for the fist time since 2006 after a outbreak was reported in the Dordogne area. An emergency response plan has been launched.

Published: 25 November 2015 11:59 CET
France reports case of bird flu in Dordogne
France has its first case of bird flu since 2006. File photo: AFP

France's agriculture ministry revealed on Wednesday that an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu had been found in the southwest part of the country.

“A case of avian influenza has been confirmed in a yard in Dordogne,” the ministry said in a statement.

The virus, which is highly pathogenic – meaning it can cause disease, was identified on Tuesday by the France's National Agency of Sanitary Security (Anses).

The bird flu outbreak, found among chickens, was the first one in France since 2006.

The health ministry said that only those who hadclose and prolonged contact with the sick animals were at risk of contamination.

Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll immediately asked his services to activate a national intervention emergency plan following European and international rules, the agricultural ministry said.

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BERGEN

Isolation nearly over for Norway penguins as vaccination arrives

They have been living under strict confinement measures for months, but soon the second shot of a life-saving vaccine will let them go outside and get back to their normal lives.

Published: 5 March 2021 11:11 CET
Isolation nearly over for Norway penguins as vaccination arrives
Illustration photo: Manon Buizert on Unsplash

While it sounds like a familiar story, in this case their normal lives involve sliding about on their bellies, frolicking in icy water and catching fish in their mouths.

Twenty-nine gentoo penguins at Norway’s Bergen Aquarium have had a tarp stretched over their pen since early December after cases of a highly infectious bird flu strain, H5N8, were detected in the country.

“Because of this, the Food Health Authority introduced a curfew: all birds in captivity must be kept under a roof,” aquarium director Aslak Sverdrup told AFP on Thursday. 

But the end is in sight, with the arrival of bird flu vaccine doses.

The oldest and most fragile had their first shot on Wednesday, followed by the younger penguins on Thursday, the aquarium said.

Among the freshly immunised is “Erna”, named for Prime Minister Erna Solberg who once had a summer job at the aquarium, a tourist attraction in the western city where she was born.

Once the second vaccine dose has been administered in a month’s time, the birds will be able to see the sky again.

“The fact that penguins are being vaccinated now is pure coincidence, totally independent of the coronavirus, but it shows that vaccines are important, even more so today,” Sverdrup said.

In the wild, gentoo penguins live on the other side of the Earth, in Antarctica.

None at the Bergen Aquarium caught the flu, and while the disease can be devastating for birds, transmission to humans is rare.

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