With the advancement of bird flu by Uruguay —with outbreaks in several departments although, for the moment, without reaching commercial farms and the agricultural production system—, the government seeks to speed up the times for the import of vaccines against Avian Influenza, which will be used for the inoculation of laying and breeding hens.
He Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) does not leave concern for avian flu aside, and works to achieve vaccines that would give some peace of mind to the poultry sector, already hit for some time and on the verge of panic in the face of the possibility of massive slaughter of birds due to the appearance of the virus in the corrals.
For this, the general director of the Livestock Services, Diego Freitaswill travel to Mexico to speed up the purchase process of this prevention input. In this regard, the government ordered the purchase of 10 million doses, with the aim of applying a double vaccination scheme as soon as possible against the “epidemiological threat” what became of Avian Influenza H1N5.
At the time, the head of the MGAP, Fernando Mattos, He pointed out that “more and more countries are adopting the vaccine, and we are going down that path too.” In this sense, he added: “We are taking measures to quickly dispose of the vaccines.” A month has passed since then without major news, which is why De Freitas will travel to the North American country in person.
The reluctance of the export sector
The implementation of the avian flu vaccine is quite a controversy in the world of agriculture and is highly resisted by the export sector. “There are many exporting countries that refuse to vaccinate, because the concept still persists in the world that who vaccinates is prohibited or has greater export restrictions. There are markets that are closed to those countries that vaccinate,” explained the minister.
Internationally, the standardized requirement in most of the countries that import poultry meat is that the birds that enter are free of influenza antibodies.
To do this, if a country wants to prove that its animals do not have the disease, it must carry out a laboratory test and that their birds do not have these defenses. Under this way of looking at it, if the animal has this type of antibody, that indicates that it carried the virus.
The paradox is that to stop the spread of the virus, the vaccine precisely produces these antibodies in animals, but to protect them. However, the problem is that the antibodies from the vaccinated birds cannot be differentiated of them generates the same disease.
That is why the implementation of the avian flu vaccine generates reluctance in the agro-export sectorwhere fear of losing markets abroad reigns, in the midst of negotiations to open the doors of China to the local poultry market.
The outbreaks in Uruguay
So far, the country has registered eight foci of bird flu, all limited to wild and backyard birds. The first, which set off the alarms for the presence of the virus in the national territory for the first time, was that of the swans black neck in 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.
The appearance of 10 dead chickens in Montevideo once again exacerbated the concern, while the fourth source, in cannelloni —Five Black Necked Swans on Tapia Station— confirmed that the virus was circulating in the country. The fifth outbreak took place in the Ecoparque Rodolfo Tálicein Florida, with the death of two birds.
The last of the outbreaks put another department on the map of infections: San José; with the detection of a dead swan in the town of Pennine Beachin Saint Joseph.
Source: Ambito
