Sanitary alert! What is known about the avian flu outbreak circulating in Latin America

Thousands of birds have been slaughtered due to the increase in influenza or avian flu registered in different Latin American countries.

Although the disease currently does not represent a risk to human life or the quality of meat and eggs, it does represent economic losses for poultry farmers in at least six countries.

However, the virus does represent a threat to the human way of life due to its high level of contagion.

For this reason, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has announced the activation of coordination and response protocols to outbreaks of avian influenza in Latin America after confirming diagnoses in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.Mexico is one of the first affected

The Ministry of Agriculture of Mexico confirmed last October an outbreak of bird flu in a farm with 60,000 chickens in Montemorelos, Nuevo León. The news put the US on alert, which has been suffering the ravages of this flu for several weeks.

Mexico, detected on October 14 the first case in a falcon near Metepec, in the State of Mexico. Other cases of affected wild birds have followed in Tijuana, Baja California, and on a small family farm in Juárez, Chiapas.

Cases have also been discovered in Baja California and Jalisco and 10 other entities in recent weeks.

For months the HPAI AH5N1 has caused serious havoc in several countries in Asia, Africa and Europe, as well as in the US and Canada.Avian influenza in Chile

The Avian influenza in Chile could have a great impact on wildlife and the poultry industry. The virus, which has a high mortality rate, has spread through migratory birds that fly from one continent to another, and -in this way- it has spread from North America to South America.

The first case in Chile was reported last week in Arica, which is why authorities have called to report on the observation of sick or dead birds.

“It can cause rapid death in infected birds. In some species it causes death in less than 48 hours with mortality of up to 100%, affecting multiple organs of the animal”, explains the academic from the Faculty of Veterinary and Livestock Sciences of the University of Chile, Víctor Neira.

Following confirmation by the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) of the presence of Avian Influenza in northern Chile, corresponding to the H5N1 subtype variant that has spread throughout the world, the Chilean Veterinary Medical College (Colmevet) -through the National Una Salud (One Health) Commission – details some characteristics of this virus, its possible impact in the country and calls for reporting the existence of cases of sick or dead birds.Ecuador in emergency

The Government of Ecuador declared a zoosanitary emergency for a period of 90 days due to the outbreak of avian flu, at the same time that it ordered the slaughter of almost 180,000 birds and some 300,000 could be infected.

The announcement was made by the Minister in charge of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) Bernardo Manzano, who, however, reassured the public after assuring that the detected outbreak affects barely less than 1% of the country’s poultry population, according to information published by El Universo.

With this decision, the Ecuadorian authorities determined that, during the next 90 days, birds, products or derivatives of avian origin, such as eggs, hens or chickens, among others, may not be mobilized from the affected farms.

«MAG and Agrocalidad have 850 technicians throughout the country as a contingent to carry out surveillance, monitoring and sampling in other poultry farms with the aim of ruling out the presence of influenza in other provinces»,  said Manzano.Venezuela detects avian influenza

In a joint resolution of the Ministries of Agriculture and Science, Venezuela also began a restriction period of 90 days, counted from last November 29.

This decision was declared in the coastal states of Anzoátegui, Miranda, Nueva Esparta, La Guaira and Sucre after detecting the presence of avian influenza in pelicans.

This is – according to the authorities – the first report of this virus in Venezuela, which until now had historically been free of avian influenza.

«Highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemics can spread rapidly, devastate the poultry industry and cause severe trade restrictions, and even some strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza have the ability to infect people, posing a threat to public health», warned the portfolios of Agriculture and Science.

After publishing the resolution, the ministry assured, via Twitter, that the «technical teams are carrying out monitoring and surveillance work» in the presence of the virus, adding that there are similar reports of infected pelicans in other countries in the American continent.Peru applies measures

37,000 poultry that remained on a farm in the north of Lima, Peru, were slaughtered after confirming that they were infected with avian influenza, according to the National Agrarian Health Service of that country.

As prevention measures, cockfighting and poultry fairs scheduled for the Christmas and New Year holidays were prohibited.

«They have all been slaughtered, this infectious focus has already ended on a small farm in Huacho, with a population of approximately 37,000 birds», said Jorge Mantilla, head of Disease Control of the National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa) of that country. .

Another 700 birds were also sacrificed in the Gallito town center, in Lambayeque, in northern Peru, as a measure to control and prevent the spread of the virus, which has already claimed the lives of 14,000 seabirds, most of them pelicans (10,257).

As a result of this situation, Peru declared a national health emergency for 90 days after confirming cases of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry raised on farms.Colombia and the Avian influenza

In Colombia, a Sanitary Emergency situation was declared due to the presence of Avian Influenza in backyard domestic birds.

According to the most recent ICA report, cities such as Cartagena, Acandí, Lorica, Cereté, El Retén, Los Palmitos and Toluviejo are the sources of this influenza.

The authorities have recalled that the main source of contagion is direct contact with secretions from infected birds or by ingesting fecal matter.

Even the vaccination campaign against foot-and-mouth disease has been delayed in the Department of Bolívar due to properties quarantined by the ICA