|
Bird flu results in more than 1 million chicken deaths in Mexico, China
Story Date: 7/5/2012
| |
Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 7/4/12
Officials in Mexico and China are dealing with separate outbreaks of bird flu that have killed at least 870,000 chickens in western Mexico and forced the culling of more than 150,000 birds in a remote part of northwest China.
Mexico’s agriculture ministry confirmed that at least 870,000 chickens have died in two municipalities in the state of Jalisco since the outbreak was discovered last month. Late last week, poultry inspectors had visited almost 150 poultry farms in the region and found the H7N3 flu at 10 sites.
Officials believe the outbreak has been localized, but declared a national animal health emergency yesterday as it prepares to begin vaccinations to contain the spread of the disease.
Jalisco produces about 11 percent of Mexico’s poultry meat and 50 percent of its eggs, and the number of birds that have died so far make up a small fraction of the country’s overall chicken population. Jalisco government officials add that humans are not at risk of infection by eating poultry.
Meanwhile, authorities in Xinjiang, China, are dealing with a confirmed outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian flu that initially killed 1,600 chickens and sickened 5,500 other birds.
About 156,000 chickens at a farm run by a group described by Chinese media as a semi-military government organization have been culled in order to contain the outbreak.
China has the world’s largest chicken population and is considered highly at risk for a bird flu epidemic. The last reported outbreak of avian flu in mainland China was three months ago, when 95,000 birds were killed in the Ningxia region.
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
|
|
|
|
