Suspected outbreak of bird flu on French turkey farm

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.

The deadly H5N1 virus appeared in European poultry for the first time in two chickens in Austria on Wednesday, but the birds were in an animal refuge and not on a farm.

The suspected infection was at a farm containing 11,000 turkeys situated in the Ain department near the village of Joyeux where the first wild bird with the flu virus was found 10 days ago.