Increased cases of bird flu put Latin American countries on alert 

The decision of Argentina and Uruguay to declare a health emergency after the discovery of the first cases of avian influenza raised on Wednesday (15) the level of alert in Latin America due to the advance of the disease.

Avian influenza started to affect humans in recent decades and has recently been detected in some mammalian species.

The situation in Argentina and Uruguay is far from isolated since, on Tuesday (14), Guatemala declared a state of emergency after confirming the presence of the H5N1 virus in pelicans.

“Confirming the virus entry in the country makes us more alert, but does not surprise us,” admitted the Secretary of Agriculture of Argentina, Juan José Bahillo.

A similar comment was made by Uruguay’s Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries, Fernando Mattos, who acknowledged that detecting the first case and the disease’s arrival “is not a surprise.”

Alarms went off in Cuba last week when cases of bird flu were detected in Havana’s National Zoo, which is why the facility was declared under quarantine.

In Costa Rica, the first bird flu outbreak was detected on January 23 in pelicans in the province of Limón (Caribbean).

Later, other infections were identified in wild birds in that same province and in a farm in the city of Parrita (Pacific).

Panama has maintained a health alert since December 24, valid for 90 days, after the first case of avian influenza was confirmed.

Since then, three cases have been registered, and more than 2,500 birds have been slaughtered.

In Venezuela, the presence of avian influenza was detected in pelicans also in December, which is why the authorities declared a state of health alert in five coastal states “for a period of 90 days,” which expires at the end of this month.

The first cases in Peru were detected at the end of November, also in pelicans.

Days later, the contagion spread to domestic poultry, which led the Ministry of Health to issue an epidemiological alert.

Since then, at least 55,000 birds have died, and now the focus is on the nearly 600 sea lions and one dolphin that died due to the virus.

For its part, the Chilean authorities have confirmed more than 10,000 dead birds, presumably due to avian flu.

Brazil, so far, has not registered any case, but due to the threat of reaching neighboring countries where it has already been registered, the Ministry of Agriculture has been promoting a campaign to reinforce prevention measures.

The world leader in the export of chicken meat, with 35% of the market, Brazil is also promoting the maintenance of surveillance efforts and biosecurity measures on farms to avoid direct and indirect contact between domestic and wild birds, especially migratory waterfowl.

*with information from EFE