Bird flu alert in France!

France has raised its avian flu risk level from 'medium' to 'high' after new cases of the disease were detected and ordered poultry farms to keep birds indoors to prevent the spread of the high-risk outbreak.

Bird flu has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds worldwide in recent years. The disease, which usually appears in the fall and winter months, has spread to several European countries in recent weeks, including Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

France announced last week that it had detected the first outbreak of bird flu this season at a farm in Brittany in the northwest of the country. The "high risk" level means that all poultry must be kept on farms and additional safety measures must be taken to prevent the spread of the disease.

Although bird flu is harmless in food, its spread is a concern for governments and the poultry industry because of the devastation it can cause to flocks, the possibility of trade restrictions and the risk of transmission to humans. To combat the disease, France launched a vaccination campaign in early October, initially limited to ducks, which can easily transmit the virus without showing symptoms.