Officials fear rapid spread of virus could damage country’s exports
The government has announced one billion pesos in extra funding to reinforce health and sanitary controls, following the detection of at least eight cases of bird flu in several provinces.
Officials confirmed cases of the virus in backyard chickens and ducks found dead in the town of Villa Cañas, in the south of Santa Fe Province. That followed on from the detection of cases in two dead ducks at the Las Mojarras lake in General San Martín, Córdoba Province and the first case, which was detected in Jujuy Province, close to the border with Bolivia.
This latest announcement comes less than a day after Peru’s government said that more than 700 sea lions and more than 55.000 birds had died in eight protected coastal areas, after becoming infected.
Bird flu or avian influenza is a viral disease, which affects both poultry and wild birds, and can occasionally affect exposed humans, and is caused by multiple subtypes (H5N1, H5N3, H5N8, etc), whose genetic characteristics evolve rapidly.
SOURCE: www.batimes.com.ar