The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 15 wild swans in south-eastern France where two wild ducks and a turkey farm were contaminated by the disease.

France has detected the H5 subtype of bird flu on a turkey farm, raising fears today that the European Union’s top poultry producer could record the first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 flu strain in commercialse in nearby Lyon, said today that France would be “one of the best-prepared countries” in the event of a flu pandemic.

A SUSPECTED outbreak of H5N1 bird flu has been detected in a turkey farm in eastern France which, if confirmed, would be the first time farm birds have been infected in Europe.

French authorities sealed off a turkey farm today that vets suspect may have been infected by the deadly bird flu virus, testing the dead poultry and slaughtering the rest, the Agriculture Ministry said.

A second case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed in a wild duck in France, Agriculture Ministry officials said today.