Venezuelan authorities declared this Friday a 90-day state of health alert in the coastal states of Anzoátegui, Miranda, Nueva Esparta, La Guaira and Sucre, after detecting the presence of avian influenza in pelicans.
The Ministries of Agriculture and Science have sent a joint letter, disseminated by Minister Gabriela Jiménez through Twitter, detailing that the activities of «inspection, monitoring and epidemiological surveillance» in Puerto Píritu, in the state of Anzoátegui, in the northeast of the country, have shown the presence of «clinical signs» compatible with this disease.
This is the first time that avian influenza has been reported in Venezuela, and as a result, several preventive measures have been taken, such as the prohibition of moving live birds and fertile eggs from some of these municipalities and the culling of birds that test positive for the flu.
In addition, the Government has warned that «epidemics of highly pathogenic avian influenza can spread rapidly, devastate the poultry industry and cause severe trade restrictions». They have also warned that some strains have the capacity to infect humans, thus posing a threat to public health.
Jiménez has assured that the technical teams are carrying out the appropriate monitoring and surveillance work in the presence of the virus and has confirmed that infections of the same group of birds have been reported in other Latin American countries.
