Monday, February 20, 2023 | 9:20 p.m.
The vice president of the National Agrifood Health and Quality Service (Senasa), Rodolfo Acerbi, assured this Monday that the cases of avian influenza “do not represent a danger to the health of the population in Argentina, nor to the commercial chain of sale.”
In dialogue with Télam, the official also detailed the prevention measures carried out by national and provincial agencies to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Avian influenza does not represent a problem for the health of the population in the country, and we are guaranteeing all sanitary measures to prevent its expansion. The chances of affecting people are low, and this disease is not spread by consuming chicken meat or eggs, the only way people can get it is if they handle birds that are dead or sick with this virus, so there is no danger of contagion through food intake, and it does not affect the chain commercial sale,” Acerbi said.
After the confirmation last Wednesday of the first case in Jujuy, which determined the declaration of a health emergency situation by the Ministry of Agriculture, Senasa surveyed more than 100 samples nationwide, in which positive cases were detected in other three provinces: Córdoba, Salta and Santa Fe.
In Jujuy the disease was detected in wild birds of the Andean goose species.
Later, cases of avian influenza (AI) H5 were confirmed in wild ducks and geese found dead in the province of Córdoba, to which another case of infection was added -in this case from a backyard chicken- in Salta.
This Monday, the health agency reported another case, in Santa Fe, in the town of Villa Cañás, with the discovery of backyard chickens and turkeys infected with the virus.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is a disease with a high impact both on the diversity of wild birds and on poultry production, due to the fact that it causes high mortality rates.
So far, the 5 species of birds that have been identified with bird flu in the country are: Andean goose, wild duck, chickens, turkeys, and domestic or backyard ducks.
After these cases were confirmed, the production ministries of the provinces and personnel from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) adopted sanitary actions and established a containment zone based on detection and epidemiologically related suspicions, in addition, route controls were reinforced in collaboration with the National Gendarmerie to delimit the area.
