You will wish to be aware that an outbreak of low pathogenic avian influenza of H5 subtype has been reported on a duck breeding farm in the Vendee region of France.  A Preliminary Outbreak Assessment is now available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/monitoring/pdf/ai-france-090203.pdf

In the recent past, Germany has also reported outbreaks of LPAI H5N3 (see

These events in France and Germany do not alter our assessment that there is a continuous ongoing low risk of LPAI (and similarly HPAI) over a wider geographic area of the EU, including the UK.  These events highlight again the importance of implementing and maintaining appropriate biosecurity measures at all times.