July 21, 2006

Brazil's Para state free of Newcastle, bird flu

Brazil's Agricultural Ministry Thursday night (Jul 20) confirmed again in an official note that the country's northern Para state in the Amazon region is free of Newcastle disease as well as bird flu.

Laboratory tests came back negative for both diseases, said the note.

While 150 birds have died on an island 70 kilometres from Para's capital city of Belem--a city situated on the Amazon river--the deaths could have been caused by a lack of sanitary measures or farm management practices, said Marcelo Mota, the bird sanitation coordinator of the Agricultural Ministry, according to the note.

Until today, investigators have not identified other suspect diseases or sick birds on the island, the note added.

Globo News, Brazil's 24-hour news channel, earlier in the day said that some 3,000 birds could have died of Newcastle disease, a highly contagious disease among fowls.

A case of the disease was confirmed earlier this month in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, leading a few countries, such as Russia, to suspend chicken imports from that state.

Brazil is the world's leading chicken exporter.