After confirming the last outbreak of bird flu in the department of Cannelloni, the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, fernando mattoswarned that Uruguay “He’s on his way” to vaccination against this type of influenza.
The hierarch also stated that “more and more countries are adopting the vaccine, and we are going down that path too.” In that sense, he added:We are taking steps to quickly have vaccines available”.
The last case of influenza detected this Wednesday confirmed “that the virus has circulation” and that this causes the government to “extreme care and take the indicated measures to prevent the spread.”
“The truth is that this virus is circulating, probably, according to what the specialists tell us, it will be very difficult for it to be withdrawn; we are going to have to live with this virus circulating in our production areas”, stated Mattos.
The implementation of the avian flu vaccine is controversial in the world of agriculture and is very resisted by the export sector. “There is many exporting countries that refuse to vaccinate, because the concept that who vaccinates is prohibited or has greater export restrictions still persists in the world. There are markets that are closed to those countries that vaccinate,” explained the minister.
However, he stressed that the effectiveness, timeliness and availability of inoculation have already been proven in the world, although he acknowledged that some producers who sell abroad expressed their concern for the possibility of the vaccine.
The path of bird flu in the country
The new outbreak in Canelones is the fourth detected in a month, since the first case was known, also in a Black-necked swan, in the area of Garzon Lagoon, between rock and Maldonado. Although the virus was confined to the local wild bird population for a time, the death of 70 chickens and other backyard birds in San Gregorio del Polanco, Tacuarembóset off the alarms against the possibility that the virus had entered the production system.
With the application of protocols corresponding measures and the cooperation between the MGAP, the departmental authorities and the producers, it was possible to contain the spread, and no more cases were known until the detection of the 10 dead chickens in Montevideo. Likewise, there was a false alarm after 3,000 chickens died on a farm in Chazimo, Florida.
The focus of Canelones, in addition to being the fourth, realizes that the virus is already present in several departmentsso the concern for contagion at the heart of the poultry production system.
Considering that the stamping out protocol indicates that “if there is a sick bird in a shed of thousands, the thousands that are in contact must be eliminated”, the losses for the producers and for Uruguay —which saw the | when the negotiations for this new market were just opening—they would be immense if the virus continues to advance, as the MGAP insists on remembering.
Source: Ambito
