July 27, 2012

Mexico has begun vaccinating 10 million domestic chickens and hens against the bird flu virus in the central west state of Jalisco.

Some five million birds have been slaughtered so far as authorities race to contain the outbreak of the highly-contagious H7N3 virus, which has cost the Mexican poultry industry some US$50 million since it was first detected on June 20.

"Starting tomorrow, we are going to vaccinate hens and chicks across the country to put an end to this bird flu epidemic," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on July 25. The Mexican government declared a national animal emergency earlier this July.

According to the Agence France-Presse, Calderon said Mexico aims to produce 80 million vaccinations so that "in the coming weeks, (we) can end this economic impact on poultry producers."

Several laboratories have been tasked with making the vaccines.

Previous local media reports said bird flu had been detected at 33 of the 253 poultry farms in Jalisco, inspected by the country's food safety watchdog, Senasica.

Senasica declared 82 farms to be free of the disease while 138 have been kept under "strict surveillance."

Such outbreaks are monitored closely in Mexico since H1N1 began there in 2009 before spreading around the world and killing 17,000 people.

According to the UN, the H7N3 virus has occasionally caused human disease but has not shown itself to be easily transmittable between humans.