In Argentina and Ecuador there is a maximum alert due to bird flu. Argentina, for example, decreed on Wednesday of last week the health emergency throughout the national territory after the detection of the first case, and announced a reinforcement of border controls and evacuations within Argentine territory and an increase in work rounds in provincial and national parks.
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And is not for less. On February 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned through an official statement about the spread of this disease in mammals in different regions of the world.
Avian influenza mainly affects domestic birds. and it is classified into two subtypes based on two surface proteins and is considered highly fatal, according to the WHO. The alert is that, despite the fact that it is an animal disease, transmission to humans who have contact with sick birds is possible.
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In principle, this virus affects domestic birds, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks and quails, and wild birds, and is characterized by high morbidity, and does not have a specific treatment.
In the case of Ecuador, to date it remains in force an action plan to prevent the entry of avian influenza in the Galapagos archipelagolocated about a thousand kilometers from the continental coasts of the country, which has controlled the outbreaks of the disease on farms in its Andean zone.
Cases have also been detected in Canada, United States, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. In the latter, in fact, traders report a 50 percent increase in the price of eggs on the northern border, such as in Sonora, where the shortage of the product in the United States, due to factors such as bird flu, has driven hundreds of of consumers to cross south to get the product.
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Ecuador and Peru
“From the first case of avian influenza, in domestic birds, in Ecuador an action plan was activated with zero cases in Galapagos,” the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) told EFE.
And he pointed out that, in order to ensure the health and well-being of the wild fauna of the Galapagos, that State portfolio has a technical committee made up of the Galapagos Biosafety and Quarantine Regulation and Control Agency (ABG) and the Galapagos National Park (PNG). In addition, by the Charles Darwin Foundation, the Government Council of the Special Regime of Galapagos and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG).
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These institutions “have activated actions of an urgent nature, such as monitoring, registration, surveillance of wildlife, among others.”
“We also have different protocols that allow the establishment of prevention actions in domestic animals and surveillance in wildlife carried out by the ABG and the PNG,” he said.
And he reiterated that the Government, through MAATE and its attached entities, “remains alert to any advance of the bird flu virus to exercise control and care of wildlife in the Galapagos Marine Reserve and Galapagos National Park.”
The archipelago, declared in 1978 as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, has different species, including sea lions.
Ecuador is also alert to cases registered in neighboring Peru, where Safety protocols have been intensified after the confirmation of avian flu as the cause of the death of sea lions and a dolphin.
At least 585 sea lions and about 55,000 birds have died in recent weeks in protected natural areas of the Peruvian coast due to H5N1 avian influenza, according to the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (Serfor).
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We also have different protocols that allow us to establish prevention actions in domestic animals and surveillance in wildlife.
Ecuador declared a 90-day state of animal health emergency on November 29 after detecting an outbreak that killed more than 180,000 birds. A new case detected in mid-December was already declared under control, although the authorities reinforced surveillance, as the disease had also been announced in Canada, Colombia, the United States, Mexico and Peru.
Ecuador then prohibited the movement of birds, products and by-products of origin
poultry such as eggs, hens and chickens, among others, from the farms affected by the outbreak.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, more than 1.1 million birds have been affected by the disease in Ecuador, which it has had to sacrifice more than 284,000.
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An infected girl in Ecuador
On January 11, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) reported that a nine-year-old girl from the Andean province of Bolívar was infected with bird flu (A-H5) and pointed out that she was “stable.”
It is presumed that the contagion was due to the minor’s direct contact with some birds infected with the virus. The minor had symptoms on December 25. She presented the typical symptoms of pneumonia, which became more complicated and she was transferred to the Ecuadorian capital, where she was admitted to a public hospital.
“The sequelae that this may have are those of any respiratory disease because it is severe pneumonia and you may have some type of respiratory problem in the future,” said Francisco Pérez, undersecretary of Health Surveillance and Control at the MSP.
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Argentina
Argentina confirmed in the last hours eight cases of avian influenza (AI) H5 in wild and backyard birdswithin the framework of surveillance actions and the health emergency declared in the last week and an action plan to prevent the disease from entering the commercial circuit, according to official sources.
The National Service for Agrifood Health and Quality (Senasa) of Argentina reported in a statement that five cases were found in the province of Córdoba, one in Salta and another in Jujuy and one more in Santa Fe.
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Senasa highlighted that avian influenza was found in wild and backyard birds, so Argentina preserves the sanitary status and the normal flow of exports.
“The national government reinforces the action plan to prevent the disease from entering the commercial circuit,” said Senasa, with a budget reinforcement of 909 million pesos (about 4.5 million dollars) and a prevention and control plan for through which you can maximize sanitary control at border crossings and the national territory.
The authorities reported that this Tuesday three cases were confirmed in backyard birds in the towns of Villa del Rosario, Deheza and Baldisera, in Córdoba, in analyzes carried out on samples taken from chickens and other dead poultry.
Last Saturday, bird flu had been confirmed in backyard turkeys found dead in the town of Alejo Ledesma, in Córdoba, and in a backyard hen found on the way to La Isla, department of Cerrillos, in Salta. And on Sunday he added another detection of the virus in chickens and backyard ducks found dead in the town of Villa Cañás, in Santa Fe.
Senasa had confirmed the second case late on Friday in two wild ducks found dead, in the Las Mojarras lagoon in the Cordovan department of General San Martín.
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Colombia
According to the information published by the National Institute of Health (INS) in its epidemiological bulletin, between October 2022 and January 11 of this year, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) identified 39 foci of avian influenza in backyard birds in five territorial entities: Chocó, Cartagena, Sucre, Magdalena and Córdoba.
However, to date, no cases of contagion in humans have been identified, nor have there been any suspected cases.
WILLIAM MORENO HERNANDEZ
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
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