Highly pathogenic avian influenza – News

This Tuesday, October 1 marks the start of the second vaccination campaign for ducks against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The sector and the public authorities can build on the success of the previous campaign, which contributed to limiting the number of outbreaks in 2023/24.

France is renewing the preventive vaccination strategy against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), based on the vaccination of ducks on farms, deployed over 2023/24. This campaign, unprecedented at European level, has made it possible to vaccinate 60 million ducks over the last twelve months.

This strategy has helped to limit the number of outbreaks in breeding, only ten for the 2023/24 campaign, compared to more than 400 in the previous season. A study by the Chair of Avian Biosecurity and Health at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse establishes that several hundred outbreaks have been avoided thanks to this vaccination strategy (see box).

This vaccination campaign, the cost of which amounts to approximately one hundred million euros, will be supported financially by the State up to 70% until the end of the year. The precise distribution of costs was co-constructed with industry stakeholders and validated on August 30. The system is operational, continuing the first vaccination campaign, which was successfully organized.

As a reminder, vaccination is mandatory for farms keeping more than 250 ducks (Barbarie, mulard and Pekin) whose products (meat and foie gras) are intended for marketing. The entire French territory (with the exception of Corsica) is concerned, which represents approximately 62 million ducks to be vaccinated in 2,500 farms.

Annie Genevard, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry:

« I salute the’commitment of all actors who, at the cUmbrellatands of the ministry’s servicesAndre, enabled the implementation of this vaccination campaign and in particular the breeders, veterinarians and their representatives as well as the teams of vaccinators, the laboratories producing vaccines and analyzes and the scientific experts. »

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry invites all stakeholders in the sector to maintain their vigilance with regard to HPAI and to respect strict application of biosecurity measures. Surveillance, biosecurity and vaccination are, in fact, the pillars of preventing the spread of HPAI.

Several hundred outbreaks potentially avoided thanks to vaccination in 2023/24 (study)

A study by the Chair of Avian Biosecurity and Health at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse (IHAP Unit – ENVT-INRAE), put online in pre-publication on August 29, establishes an estimate, according to which in the absence of vaccination, France could have experienced up to 701 outbreaks in breeding over 2023/24, which is very much higher than the ten outbreaks actually observed. The researchers relied on predictive modeling, based on data from outbreaks detected on farms and wildlife in different Western European countries since 2016.