France has confirmed the deadly bird flu virus H5N1 has been found on a turkey farm in the east of the country.
It is the first time a European Union farm has been infected.
France has already had cases in two wild ducks.
The agriculture ministry said a high death rate among turkeys was discovered at the site which has more than 11,000 birds, in the department of Ain.
France, Europe's largest poultry producer, is to start vaccinating millions of birds against bird flu.
Poultry sales fall
"The H5N1 virus is confirmed as the cause of the death of turkey farmed in the Ain department," the ministry said in a statement.
The vaccination programme approved by the EU this week, initially opposed by several countries, will be limited to birds in specific high-risk regions.
Ducks and geese will be inoculated in three areas in the west and south-west thought to be at high risk, among them the coastal Landes region.
Poultry sales have plunged in Italy, Greece and France since the confirmation of H5N1 outbreaks.
Eight EU countries - Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia - have so far confirmed cases of the lethal H5N1 strain.
H5N1 has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since late 2003.
It can be caught by humans who handle infected birds, but is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.
Scientists have warned that if the virus mutates, it could create a pandemic that could kill millions of people.
(BBC)
<< Back