MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican authorities declared the country free of H5N1 avian influenza almost a year after starting a bird vaccination campaign in high-risk areas to prevent its spread, according to an agreement published in the Official Gazette on Wednesday.
The decision will facilitate the sale of live poultry, as well as poultry products and by-products originating from Mexico, the gazette said.
In October 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture reported it had detected the virus in a 60,000-bird commercial farm in the state of Nuevo Leon, bordering the United States, a few days after notifying the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA) of a first case of the serious strain.
To guarantee Mexico remains free of the disease, the country will maintain in place epidemiological surveillance, traceability, control of movement and other strict safety procedures, according to the document.
The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, commonly called bird flu, has killed poultry flocks in the United States and Europe since last year.
In South America, Brazil decreed a 180-day animal health emergency in May 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; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Bill Berkrot)
