November 7, 2005
Tests show no bird flu in Brazil
Brazilian authorities Friday discounted the presence of bird flu in their country after tests showed no sign of the disease in a rooster that died with symptoms of the illness.
Agriculture Ministry spokeswoman Maria das Merces said federal investigators were trying to determine what killed the rooster, "but the first tests were conclusive to rule out all types of bird flu".
The rooster was found dead Wednesday in Sao Paulo state after showing signs of fever, loss of feathers and respiratory problems-all symptoms of bird flu.
"The results are a relief," Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues said in a statement. "This disease is worrying the entire world today."
Health officials Thursday said there was only a remote chance of finding the deadly H5N1 strain because the rooster was not in contact with any migratory birds from continents where the disease was found.
Agriculture ministers from Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile plan to meet in Bolivia next week to discuss measures to contain and prevent bird flu, as well as FMD, which was recently detected in cattle in southern Brazil.
The three-day meeting will begin Nov 10 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia's Agriculture Ministry announced.
Meanwhile, Brazil's Health Ministry said it would maintain a warning system to detect any cases of bird flu. Nearly 70 hospitals and clinics across the country are designated to treat patients who show signs of the disease.
The Brazilian government set aside US$87 million to buy a drug to treat the disease, and budgeted US$1.5 million to produce a vaccine.
The country has also set up checkpoints at ports and airports to examine birds shipped into the country.
Containing an outbreak of bird flu in Brazil would cost more than 1 billion real (US$450 million), the Health Ministry has said.
The disease threatens the huge chicken industry in Brazil, which has exported US$2.5 billion worth of chicken so far this year, surpassing the US as the world's leading exporter.
