Brazil, the world’s top chicken exporter, has for the first time confirmed a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), according to statement from the Agriculture Ministry on Monday.
The two cases were detected in wild birds and should not trigger a ban on imports of Brazilian poultry products as per guidelines from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), according to the Brazilian government.
The avian influenza virus can kill entire flocks of birds and cause losses for the farming sector. Brazil saw chicken exports rise by some 27% last year to $9.76 billion as other countries reeled from a global outbreak of the virus, yet the South American country had never registered a case until now.
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The Brazilian government confirmed the detection of H5N1 subtype of the influenza virus on two birds migrating off the coast of Brazil’s southeastern state of Espirito Santo.
The agriculture ministry said that because the cases were detected in wild animals, Brazil’s status “as a country free of HPAI” was not affected.
Brazil’s main importers of chicken products in April included China, Japan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
China has banned imports of poultry from nearly 40 U.S. states due to outbreaks of bird flu on commercial poultry farms. Brazil’s neighbor Argentina suspended its poultry exports in late February after recording the first case of bird flu in its poultry industry in southern Rio Negro province but resumed exports from bird flu free areas in late March.
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