November 3, 2005

Colombia finds no new bird flu cases

Colombian authorities have carried out 18,000 tests on chickens at more than 200 farms across the country since the discovery of a mild strain of bird flu here in early October but have not detected any new cases, officials said Wednesday, with a trade group calling for an end to a ban on exports.

Agriculture Minister Andres Felipe Arias said authorities were also monitoring areas where migratory birds are known to converge after Canada reported an outbreak among its wild birds.

"The migratory birds travel from the northern hemisphere to rest for some time in Colombia, and due to the volatility of the virus there is a risk that our domestic chickens could get infected," Arias told reporters.

"We cannot let down our guard on any front. We must be rigorous and strict, checking farms, sheds and lakes where birds from the north stay," he said. Arias added that three poultry distribution centres in Bogota had been shut down due to poor hygiene conditions.

Colombian authorities on Oct 10 announced they had detected three cases of bird flu at farms in western Tolima state, but quickly pointed out that it was not the deadly H5N1 strain that experts fear could mutate to become a dangerous human virus.

Nonetheless, Bolivia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela halted imports of poultry from Colombia as a precaution. A Colombian poultry association has protested, saying the other Andean countries are blowing the situation out of proportion because the mild strain found in Colombia is not related to the sickness that has killed dozens of people in Asia.

Arias said Colombian and Ecuadorean officials were due to hold talks on Thursday to explore a possible lifting of the ban. "Commerce (in poultry products) should be reactivated because the truth, the real truth, is that there isn't any problem," he said.

A Venezuelan delegation is expected to visit Colombia next week to examine the government's response to the bird flu outbreak and discuss preventive measures. Colombia exports more than US$13 million worth of poultry products every year.

Experts worry that the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus sweeping through bird flocks in Asia and pockets of eastern Europe could mutate into a human flu that could kill millions.