LatinNews Daily - 24 July 2023

* The state government of Bahia, in Brazil’s northeast, has declared an animal health emergency, after the federal agriculture ministry (Mapa) urged state governors to take further action to limit the spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu (avian influenza). Mapa declared a 180-day nationwide animal health emergency on 22 May and has since advised state authorities to mobilise their own local task forces to implement emergency containment measures. According to the Bahian government, four cases have been detected among wild birds in Bahia as of 22 July. Since Brazil’s first case was confirmed in the south-eastern state of Espírito Santo on 15 May, Mapa has registered 65 cases among wild birds and two cases among domestic bird populations – on farms in Espírito Santo and the southern Santa Catarina state. Brazil has insisted that these two cases do not merit a suspension of poultry exports, but Japan’s government has temporarily blocked poultry imports from the two Brazilian states where farm birds have been compromised. Brazil’s agriculture minister, Carlos Fávaro, is currently on a visit to various Asian countries, including Japan, where he is expected to call for officials in Tokyo to lift the suspension. 

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