Is the Camargue a risk-prone area ?
The Camargue is often mentioned as a risk-prone area for the H5N1 type of avian Influenza. This is due to the fact that it is a crossroad for migrating birds. If wild birds, notably migrating birds, are the favourite target of institutions, numerous elements are presented as favourable to other causes of spread of the disease, such as the industrialization of the poultry farming, which is particularly affected by the appearance of virulent strains and has generated changes in the virus. The Tour du Valat team put forward these explanations in an article which came out in the journal Ibis in spring 2007. The H5N1 virus was detected for the first time in domestic birds in South-East China in November 1996. Since then, it has spread throughout the major part of Asia and Europe. As a reminder, the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain came originally from domestic farms. Since mid 2005, wild birds have been blamed for spreading of the virus out of Asia. Yet the virus path does not fit with the mai
