WattAgNet: Another outbreak of avian influenza emerges in Mexico

This time it was not in production animals, but parrots imported from South America, which were already sacrificed

Release Date: 27-3-2014

Senasica of Mexico reported a new outbreak of low pathogenic avian influenza, reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on March 22. This time, the outbreak appeared in parrots, with focus in the locality of Pesquería, in the state of Nuevo Leon, in northern Mexico.

According to the OIE report, derived from the epidemiological surveillance of notifiable avian influenza in domestic and imported poultry by diagnostic tests for viral identification, viral isolation, intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI) and gene sequencing, the presence of low pathogenic avian influenza subtype H7N3 virus was identified in a batch of common parrots imported from South America. The parrots infected with avian influenza were quarantined and counter epidemic depopulation, washing, cleaning, disinfection and sentinelization activities were performed in affected the production unit.

A total of 1987 birds were killed and other measures such as movement restriction and disinfection were performed.