Mexico reports H5N1 bird flu in wild duck, commercial farms unaffected
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[October 05, 2023]
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican animal safety authorities
confirmed the first case of H5N1 avian influenza in a wild bird on
Wednesday, after declaring the country's poultry farms free of the virus
earlier in the day.
A case of H5N1 avian influenza was found in a "clinically healthy"
migratory duck in the state of Jalisco, the animal safety agency
Senasica, which is part of the agriculture ministry, said in a
statement.
Earlier, the government declared in its official gazette that the
country was H5N1 free, almost a year after starting a bird vaccination
campaign in high-risk areas to prevent its spread.
Senasica stressed that the confirmed H5N1 case does not signal an
outbreak of the disease or contradict that declaration but instead it
means that poultry farmers should be on alert to prevent the entry of
infected wild birds.
The H5N1-free designation facilitates the sale of live poultry, as well
as poultry products and by-products originating in Mexico, according to
the gazette.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/05/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
Last October, the agriculture ministry reported it had detected the
virus in a 60,000-bird commercial farm in the state of Nuevo Leon a few
days after notifying the World Organization for Animal Health of a first
case of the serious strain.
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![](../images/100523PIX/health32.jpg)
Test tubes labelled "Bird Flu" and eggs are seen in this picture
illustration, January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/05/images/ads/current/atlantabank_quarter_FAIR_2023.png) To guarantee Mexico remains free of
the disease, it will maintain epidemiological surveillance,
traceability, control of movement and other strict safety
procedures, the government said in the document.
The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, commonly called bird flu, has
led to the culling of millions of birds in the United States and
Europe.
In May, Brazil decreed a 180-day animal health emergency after
detecting several cases, and Ecuador confirmed the presence of the
virus in some birds in the Galapagos Islands in September.
(Report by Raul Cortes Fernandez and Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by
Drazen Jorgic and Bill Berkrot)
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