Leader in chicken meat exports, Brazil reinforces defense against bird flu

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CAMPINAS, BRAZIL (Reuters) – Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of chicken meat, is taking extra precautions to guard against the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, which was detected this week among the country’s wild birds after it spread to several neighboring nations. . .

Nearly $10 billion in poultry exports would be at risk if the H5N1 bird flu subtype were to infect commercial farms in Brazil. Brazil’s importance as a supplier of poultry and eggs to the world has grown as importers ban products from countries affected by the virus.

On Monday, the only laboratory accredited by the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO) in Latin America confirmed the detection of H5N1 in two wild Thalasseus acuflavidus birds, captured in Espírito Santo. The virus was also detected in a brown booby, of the species Sula leucogaster, which was being treated at a state rehabilitation center.

Per protocol, Espírito Santo veterinarians collected samples from the birds on site and sent them to the reference laboratory in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo.

“The entire productive sector remains mobilized to monitor the situation identified in Espírito Santo,” the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) said in a statement.

A case of avian influenza on a farm usually results in the culling of the entire flock for health reasons and can trigger trade restrictions from importing countries, while detection among wild birds does not trigger bans under WHO guidelines.

Brazilian authorities say they do not expect the cases discovered in wild birds to have any commercial impact, noting that Espírito Santo does not border any of the country’s main poultry-producing states in the south.

In other countries, outbreaks of avian influenza in wild birds were often followed by transmission to commercial farms.

Bird flu outbreaks have contributed to rising prices for poultry and eggs, which are often cheaper sources of protein.

The Brazilian government invested 19 times more resources this year in its network of six federal laboratories; and increased the general budget of the Ministry of Agricultural Defense (SDA) by around 12%, to 209 million reais.

“For every real spent in the Campinas laboratory, potential losses of around 64 reais are avoided for the meat industry,” said Rodrigo Nazareno, general coordinator of the federal government’s Agricultural Laboratories.

Reuters visited the WHOA reference laboratory on April 25, ahead of this week’s positive test. Lab technicians were already on high alert after more than 75 outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu were reported in nine countries in Central and South America, many for the first time.

As poultry farmers have increased monitoring, Brazil has seen a six-fold increase in reports of suspected cases through early May.

DRONES ON PATROL

In recent weeks, Brazil has begun using drones to patrol sensitive areas such as the Pantanal and has implemented a strict ban on visits to commercial farms by unauthorized persons.

After confirming cases in neighboring Argentina and Uruguay, Brazil announced at the end of March the suspension for 90 days of all events related to the exhibition of birds.

The Ministry of Agriculture told Reuters that further testing may be needed within a 10km radius of cases in Espírito Santo, including animals from commercial herds. The ministry will maintain active and passive surveillance of wild birds throughout the country.

Brazil’s chicken export earnings rose more than 27% in dollar terms last year as local companies benefited from the global outbreak of bird flu, which opened up new markets.

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China and the Middle East continued to be the main customers. And the European Union, where countries like France have had to cull millions of birds to contain outbreaks, increased import volumes from Brazil by about 23%, industry data shows.

Since the beginning of 2022, wild birds have spread the highly infectious virus farther and farther. Although humans can contract H5N1, these cases remain rare and global health officials have said the risk to people is low.

The virus arrived in South America via migratory birds, said Masaio Mizuno Ishizuka, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of São Paulo’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Birds typically only transmit bird flu for about five days. But the presence of the virus in small marine animals, which migratory birds feed on, may have allowed it to spread further this year, he said.

“The virus is extremely adept at presenting mutations to increase its potential for survival as a species,” Ishizuka warned.

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