The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture announced the detection of the first cases of bird flu in wild seabirds in Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of chicken meat.
“I want to tell the market, especially the chicken meat sector, that there is no risk of trade restrictions because they are wild birds,” said the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, in a video posted on social networks on Monday.
The infected birds, three Cape swallows, were found on the southeast coast of the state of Espírito Santo, two of them on Wednesday and a third on Monday, the ministry said in a statement.
Laboratory tests “confirmed that it was the H5N1 subtype” of bird flu, according to the ministry.
Depending “on the evolution of the epidemiological scenario, new sanitary measures may be adopted” by the authorities “to prevent the spread (…) and protect the national poultry industry,” the note added.
Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of chicken meat, with 35% of the market, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture for 2022.
Bird flu causes high mortality in wild and domestic birds such as ducks and chickens.
Thousands of birds have died or been culled in South America, hundreds of farms have been quarantined and some countries have suspended exports due to the spread of the virus since last year.
Transmission to humans is rare and usually occurs through close contact with infected birds.
Source: TSF
