SAG confirms first case of avian influenza in the Metropolitan Region

The Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) confirmed on Friday the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), in backyard birds in the Metropolitan Region.
The detection was achieved after a complaint received by the SAG from the owner of birds in the commune of Melipilla.
As reported from the SAG, the detection of the virus “allowed – once the case was confirmed by the laboratory of the Service – to immediately take the sanitary measures indicated by the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA) for the control of the virus”.
After the discovery, the SAG is applying the protocol established for these cases: the Regional Technical Table for the Animal Health Emergency by Avian Influenza H5N1 was constituted, headed by the Presidential Delegate of the Metropolitan region, Constanza Martínez and the regional director of the Metropolitan SAG, Rebeca Castillo, and which has the participation of the Seremi of Agriculture, the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response (Senapred), the Health Seremi, the Seremi of the Environment, the Air Force, the Navy, the Army, Carabineros and the PDI.
They also added that “the SAG is carrying out the corresponding actions to eliminate the outbreak in order to avoid any possibility of contagion, in addition to establishing a surveillance area around the affected area, within which there are no industrial facilities. Additionally, efforts are being made to activate the payment of insurance that will allow those affected to receive compensation for each bird slaughtered. ”
As a result of this positive case, the Senapred decreed Preventive Early Warning in the Metropolitan Region (RM) for animal health event due to “vulnerability factors in relation to epidemiological variables that may affect the population throughout the region,” said the Regional Directorate of Senapred, in coordination with the Metropolitan Presidential Delegation.
This means that “a state of reinforced surveillance will be constituted, through the precise and rigorous monitoring of the risk conditions and the respective vulnerabilities associated with the threat,” Senapred reported.

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Original source in Spanish