Overview
- The national reference laboratory ANSES confirmed the presence of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus in a symptomatic pine in Lescar, authorities said Friday, and a prefectoral delimited zone has been ordered around the tree.
- Regional teams will apply immediate proximity measures and a surrounding buffer zone under EU rules that require removal of infected trees and clearance of dead material to stop further spread.
- Trapped beetle vectors tested positive in parts of the Landes and near Orléans, but officials say those insect detections are surveillance signals and do not yet mark new infected-tree foci.
- The Lescar case lies about 60 kilometres east of the first French focus detected in Seignosse in November 2025, following a second infected tree in March and repeated positive traps in July, prompting wider monitoring.
- Authorities keep an eradication objective and have launched intensified surveys to map risk and decide on targeted felling that could affect private gardens, urban green spaces and the timber sector in the Landes de Gascogne.