Brazil, the world’s top chicken exporter, has for the first time confirmed Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) cases but only in wild birds, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.
Two cases were detected in wild birds and should not trigger a ban on imports of Brazilian poultry products as per guidelines from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), according to the Brazilian government.
The avian influenza virus can kill entire flocks of birds and cause losses for the farming sector. Brazil’s chicken exports rose by 27% last year to $9.76 billion as other countries reeled from a global outbreak of the virus, yet the South American country had never registered a case until now.
The Brazilian government confirmed the detection of H5N1 subtype of the influenza virus in two marine birds, of the Thalasseus acuflavidus species, on the coast of Brazil’s southeastern state of Espirito Santo.
Brazil’s main poultry producing states are in the far south and center-west. However, Espirito Santo is Brazil’s third largest egg producing state, according to meat lobby ABPA. It does not export eggs but sells them in the domestic market.