Chilean authorities confirmed the first outbreak of bird flu in a poultry industrial establishment in the center of the country, for which the export of the item was suspended, according to what the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, explained on Monday.
Until now, the South American country had only found the disease in wild animals.
There is a proven case in an Agrosuper campus in the western sector of the Rancagua commune,” the minister told reporters.
He Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) -sanitary regulator- explained that the affected plant had 40,000 breeding birds.
“The SAG has proceeded to control said area and immediately, in addition, complying with the highest standards, it has informed the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA) and therefore the export of poultry meat has been closed,” the ministry added in a statement.
However, Valenzuela pointed out that he hopes that after the 28 days contemplated in the observation protocols of the establishments, the export capacity can be recovered.
In mid-February, health authorities had detected the first positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (IAAP) in a marine mammal, on a beach in the north of the country.
The Avian Influenza is a contagious viral disease that affects both domestic and wild birds, without cure or treatment. Less commonly, viruses have also been isolated from mammalian species, as well as from humans.
