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Health Alert in Bolivia Due To Avian Flu in Nearby Countries

  • Bolivia seeks to preserve its avian influenza free country status. Dec. 2, 2022.

    Bolivia seeks to preserve its avian influenza free country status. Dec. 2, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@diariodesaludrd

Published 2 December 2022
Opinion

The health alert was declared in the country after cases of avian flu were reported in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
 

The director of the National Agricultural Health and Food Safety Service (Senasag), Javier Ernesto Suárez, announced the measure "given the sanitary emergency in different neighboring countries due to avian influenza and the capacity of this disease to spread on a large scale."

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According to the official, the health alert issued in the national territory is aimed at preserving "our sanitary status as a country free of avian flu," or the H5N1 influenza virus that mainly infects birds.

The Senasag director said avian influenza does not represent a risk for consuming meat and eggs from domestically produced poultry.  

Authorities are urged to reinforce biosecurity measures at animal farms by preventing the entry of wild birds, and also by disinfecting all personnel and vehicles entering these facilities.

The Galapagos Islands launched a surveillance program after H5N1 avian influenza was detected in several South American countries.

In addition, Senasag advised sellers and retailers of poultry, meat and egg products to purchase products from farms and slaughterhouses registered by the agency. 

Senasag must be informed immediately in case of suspicion of disease or mortality of farm or wild birds. In such cases, official veterinarians will attend to the animals in situ and take samples for analysis.

In Bolivia, it is a crime to introduce poultry from another country without an official animal health certificate of origin, warned Senasag.

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