Chickens in a corral in Mexico City. Saúl López (Cuartoscuro)
Mexico has reported the first case of the strain of avian influenza H5N1, as reported by
Reuters
on Friday with information from the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO), based in Paris.
The highly infectious variant was detected in a wild bird in the municipality of Metepec, in the State of Mexico, west of Mexico City, the organization has communicated with data from the Mexican authorities.
The WHOA has indicated that this report "represents the first isolation of an avian influenza virus of the H5N1 subtype in Mexico, which occurred in a non-avian bird and in one of the migratory wild bird corridors that cross the country."
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), commonly called bird flu, has killed dozens of poultry in the United States and Europe this year.
Experts are concerned that the virus has not subsided as it once did during the northern hemisphere summer.
Mexico has experienced outbreaks of another strain of bird flu, H7N3, in parts of the country in the last decade, including cases earlier this year.
The virus primarily infects birds, but can also affect humans.
The most common form of contagion is contact with the infected animal, although it can be transmitted from person to person.
The symptoms are similar to those of the common cold: cough, fever, sore throat and headache, muscle aches and shortness of breath.
With the escalation of coronavirus infections, in the 2021-2022 season, cases of influenza increased in Mexico compared to the same period last year.
The Ministry of Health reported that from last October 2021 until the first week of this year, 1,261 influenza patients and 22 deaths were recorded, while in the same period of the previous year, only seven infections and one death due to influenza were recorded. to respiratory disease.
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