Chickens on a farm on the outskirts of Buenos Aires (Argentina), this Monday. Matías Baglietto (Getty Images)
After two weeks of extreme surveillance, the Argentine health authorities have detected the first case of a bird infected with bird flu on a food-producing farm.
The National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service (Senasa) has confirmed the infection in a broiler chicken farm in the province of Río Negro, in northern Patagonia.
The announcement automatically cancels exports of poultry products in the country, the greatest fear that the Ministry of Economy had because foreign sales of this industry represent more than 350 million dollars a year.
The Government had activated the alerts last week after detecting eight cases in wild birds.
The Ministry of Economy then announced a battery of economic support for producers fearing that the fragile moment that the countryside is experiencing due to droughts would discourage the communication of possible suspected cases.
Senasa has analyzed 177 cases until this Tuesday, and has confirmed 25 infections: 21 of them in backyard birds.
The authorities have indicated that domestic consumption "will continue to develop normally", since the disease cannot be transmitted by eating meat or eggs, and that exporting refrigerators will be able to market their products on the domestic market.
“Our poultry products continue to be safe for Argentines.
The Government had reinforced sanitary controls at border crossings and had intensified raking in natural areas where wild birds congregate, but the biggest concern was that the disease would end up breaking out on food farms.
Argentina is the eighth in the world with the highest poultry production, according to the latest annual report from the Ministry of Agriculture.
According to government data, 97% of its production is for domestic consumption and the remaining 3% is exported to more than 56 countries.
Poultry production involves more than 100 small and medium-sized companies and employs almost 70,000 people throughout the country.
The situation is complicated on all fronts:
Bird flu is spreading across South America.
In Bolivia, whose border with northern Argentina is very active, the virus was detected in early February and more than 140,000 birds have already been slaughtered on farms that produced food.
Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil are also on alert.
The most sensitive cases have been reported in Peru and Chile, which have recorded deaths of sea lions that contracted the virus by eating infected bird carcasses.
Researchers fear that the mass deaths mean the virus may start to spread between mammals.
That the disease mutates and can be spread between people is a concern in the scientific community because humanity has no defenses against this virus.
Since 2003, some 870 human cases have been reported and more than half have died.
The latest death was that of an 11-year-old girl who died last Wednesday in Cambodia in an area where it is common to live with poultry.
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