MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina bird-flu free again

Under the epidemic, Argentine chicken meat exports contracted by 28% in volume and 35% in value during the first semester

Argentina's National Agrifood Health and Quality Service (Senasa) Tuesday announced the South American country was again avian influenza free, it was reported in Buenos Aires. In a note to the World Organization for Animal Health, the sanitary agency said the last of the 18 outbreaks detected in commercial establishments had been controlled 6 months after the first case was detected.

The Secretariat of Agriculture said the sanitary actions for the last outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in poultry, colloquially known as “avian flu”, have been completed with the closure of the last of the 18 outbreaks detected in commercial establishments.

”The National Agrifood Health and Quality Service (Senasa) submitted to the World Organization for Animal Health the document with the self-declaration, which supports and sustains Argentina's current status

as a country free of the disease,” Agriculture Secretary Juan José Bahillo said.

The document drafted by Senasa's National Directorate of Animal Health (DNSA) describes the measures adopted since the confirmation of the first outbreak in February 2023, the slaughter and disinfection actions, and the epidemiological surveillance carried out, which support the free country status.

However, the sanitary emergency remains in force, through epidemiological surveillance and prevention tasks nationwide. Avian influenza is a notifiable disease as per Senasa Resolution 153/2021. Anyone can notify the Agency if they identify mortality, nervous, digestive, and/or respiratory signs in wild birds or poultry.

In 2020, a new strain of the H5N1 avian influenza virus was detected and quickly spread in wild birds and poultry, affecting other animals in the process, such as minks and sea lions.

The first case in Argentina was recorded on Feb. 15 this year when Bahillo confirmed the detection of H5N1 in a wild migratory bird found in Jujuy. At that time a sanitary emergency was declared and from then on “positive” cases skyrocketed, which cases reported in birds in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Santa Fe, San Luis, Neuquén, Río Negro, Santiago del Estero, Chaco, Salta, and Jujuy. According to

Senasa, the largest number of outbreaks occurred in the province of Córdoba, followed by the province of Buenos Aires and Neuquén.

The circulation of the virus also affected poultry in industrial establishments, which led Argentina to “self-suspend” the export of poultry production on Feb. 28. Export activity was resumed about a month later when compliance with international standards was confirmed. Under the epidemic, Argentine chicken meat exports contracted by 28% in volume and 35% in value during the first semester.

Centro de Empresas Procesadoras Avícolas (CEPA) President Roberto Domenech said the epidemic caused millions in losses plus a “significant affectation in the area of laying hens.” In Río Negro, 630,000 chickens had to be culled, he added.