Many cases of bird flu have been detected in backyard chickens in Paraguay, authorities confirmed on Sunday, a development that has sent fears across the country.
The disease was discovered in the domesticated birds from the towns of Mariscal Estigarribia and Neuland in Mennonite farming areas, the National Animal Health and Quality Service (Senacsa) reported.
The potential cause being investigated is chickens having contact with infected migratory birds, the office said.
“The birds will be slaughtered to elim inate the source of infection,” Senacsa said.
The disease has spread in Latin America in recent months and has triggered phytosanitary alerts.
Read Also: H5N1 Bird Flu: US Announces First Human Case
Africa Today News, New York reports that since late 2021, one of the worst global avian influenza outbreaks on record has seen tens of millions of poultry culled, mass wild bird die-offs and a rising number of infections among mammals in several countries.
Contact with sick birds can affect humans causing fever, cough and diarrhea among other symptoms.
Meanwhile, governments should consider vaccinating birds against bird flu to avoid the virus – which has already killed hundreds of millions of birds and infected mammals worldwide – turning into a new pandemic, the head of the World Animal Health Organisation (WOAH) said.
The severity of the current outbreak of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, and the economic and personal damage it has caused, has led governments to reconsider vaccinating poultry. However, some, like the United States, remain reluctant mainly because of the trade curbs this would entail.
The WOAH is holding a five-day general session from Sunday, and will be focus on global control of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI.
A WOAH survey showed only 25% of its member states would accept imports of products from poultry vaccinated against HPAI.