Summit in government before the advance of avian flu: more measures are analyzed to deepen controls

Tomorrow there will be an important meeting of officials who will analyze the evolution of the Avian Flu or bird flu in the country. It will be headed by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massaand the Secretary of Agriculture, Juan Jose Bahilloand the president of the National Service for Health and Food Quality (Senasa), Diana Guillén.

Although the time of the meeting has not been confirmed so far, official sources have confirmed GlobeLiveMedia the same and which will be held at the Palacio de Hacienda.

In addition, it was stressed that the objective will be to take stock of the state of the situation and define more measures to increase preventive actions in collaboration with the private sector. In this context, progress could be made in a budgetary reinforcement of control mechanisms and deepen communication actions with different messages for the community.

Yesterday, during an exclusive interview with this media, Bahillo said that by confirming that avian flu is highly pathogenic, “it means that it is much more contagious and more deadly in birds and makes us more alert so that this flu does not enter the production systems, in the poultry farms, whether it is for the fattening of the chickens or the eggs, because there we would be in a more critical situation. of production, we have no trade restrictions, there is no greater economic damage, but everything changes if we have to intervene on a farm”.

In the government and the poultry sector, the main concern is that the disease reaches the trading system, as this situation in other countries has caused heavy production and economic losses. In Argentina, cases of infected birds have been reported since last week in Jujuy, Córdoba, Salta and Santa Fe. “So far, the bird flu virus has only been identified in wild birds and birds domestic or farmyard. No cases of avian influenza have been reported in farms or industrial establishments. For this reason, Argentina maintains the status of a country free of bird flu,” he explained to GlobeLiveMedia The veterinarian Vicente Rea Pidcovaof the Senasa Avian Health Program.

The ace 5 species of birds that have been identified with avian flu in the country are: Andean goose, wild duck, chickens, turkeys and domestic or barnyard ducks, according to information provided by Senasa. In addition, the increase in cases of birds affected by influenza or avian influenza is linked to an unusual epidemic season that has been developing since last year in the world. According to the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO), the avian flu epidemic season produced 290 reported outbreaks in poultry and around 140 in wild birds between December 2, 2022 and January 5, 2023. These cases in birds have been recorded in Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

Last week, before the first case of bird flu was confirmed in the country, members of the Argentine Chamber of Poultry Producers (Capia), warns that it is “bad news”but they clarified that they were looking to bring peace of mind to producers and the general public, since the detected case is isolated in wild birds and systems are activated to mitigate the transfer to the commercial area.

“This is very bad news, because of the consequences it can have in terms of bird mortality and production losses, but now is the time to reassure producers and the general population, because for the moment this is an isolated case in wild birds and we are with the systems activated to mitigate transfer to commercial establishments,” said Javier PridaChairman of Capia.

“Senasa works very well, with international protocols, professionalism and commitment. Producers will work hand in hand with the authorities, collaborating to redouble prevention and control measures in all productive establishments in the country and we are in constant communication on the situation,” he added.

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