China and Mexico have suspended imports of American poultry from the state of Indiana after the first case of avian influenza was detected there last week in the United States. Meanwhile, the US Department of Agriculture has confirmed that two other farms have been affected, in Kentucky and Virginia.
According to the department, the United States is the largest poultry producer in the world. Authorities have quarantined the affected locations. The birds present will be culled to prevent further spread. So far, no human cases have been identified, and the epizootic poses no public health risk, authorities say.
Tyson Foods, one of the largest chicken producers in the United States, says it has increased its preventive measures, especially on the East Coast. The company has limited the number of visitors to its farms and extended the cleaning time for vehicles entering the farms.
The American poultry sector remains vigilant to avoid a recurrence of the 2015 bird flu epidemic, which at that time infected more than two hundred farms. Nearly 50 million birds had to be culled, and several countries stopped their imports. The department estimates the losses back then at approximately 3.3 billion dollars in total.
Europe has been in the midst of an avian influenza epizootic for several months now, with more than 18 million poultry affected in Italy and France since the first cases were discovered there at the end of November.