Chirac urges calm over bird flu
18/02/2006 18:45  - (SA)  

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Bangkok - French president Jacques Chirac urged calm on Saturday, over the likely first outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu strain in France, Europe's biggest poultry producer.

French farm minister Dominique Bussereau said the ministry was "to 98.8% sure that a duck found in eastern France had died of the H5N1 strain, which is transmissible to humans".

Chirac, on a trip to Thailand, said the French government would be "vigilant and ready to act" on a possible outbreak.

Chirac said: "It is a situation which we have to take with calm, but which also has to be taken very seriously."

Bussereau said several wild ducks were found dead on Monday near Lyon in a region famous for the quality of its chickens.

Test results for one of the ducks showed the presence of bird flu, the H5 virus, and tests for the H5N1 strain are underway.

Bussereau said bird flu would be a major topic of debate during a meeting of European Union farm ministers in Brussels on Monday.

France would seek to increase some export help to its chicken farmers, he said, without giving details.

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