Brazil: Bird flu emergency extended
Pan American Health Organization registers human cases of avian influenza in United States, Chile and Ecuador
Brazilian authorities on Wednesday extended the nationwide state of animal health emergency declared due to avian influenza for 180 days, the Brazilian News Agency reported. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock took this measure due to the discovery of an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, mainly among wild birds.
Under this legal status, governments can implement preventive policies to protect commercial birds from disease contamination.
An animal health emergency was declared on May 22, a week after contaminated migratory wild birds were first discovered. In six months, 139 outbreaks have been detected, only three of which occurred among surviving birds in the states of Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso do Sul.
With no cases among commercial birds, Brazil maintains its status as an H5N1-free country under World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) protocols.
A total of 2,207 cases have been investigated by official veterinary authorities, of which 609 samples have been sent for laboratory analysis. Currently, 18 cases are under investigation and 139 have been confirmed, mainly in the coastal area extending from southern Bahia to Rio Grande do Sul.
Brazil holds 35% of the global chicken market and is the world’s largest chicken exporter. Due to the virus’s strong ability to mutate and adapt to new hosts, H5N1 viruses mainly pose a risk to international trade in poultry products and occasionally pose a threat to human and animal health.
Although no human cases of the disease have been recorded in Brazil, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has documented precedents of the disease in the United States, Chile and Ecuador.