http://news.sky.com/story/956925/bird-flu-mexico-destroys-million-chickensBird Flu: Mexico Destroys Million ChickensMexican authorities try to contain an outbreak of bird flu that has affected 2.5 million chickens and sent poultry prices up.
1:29pm UK, Friday 06 July 2012
An outbreak of the H7N3 bird flu virus in Mexico has infected about 2.5 million chickens and led to nearly one million birds being destroyed by authorities.
The strain was detected in the western state of Jalisco, which is the country's largest chicken farming region.
The scare has led to price rises in poultry products in Mexico as authorities try to contain the outbreak.
Officials said 129 farms in Jalisco have been inspected and the virus was confirmed in birds at 24 of the sites. Tests have continued on most of the rest.
The farms in question have been placed under quarantine, the agriculture department said.
"There is no risk of infection (in humans) as a result of consuming poultry," said Jose Munoz from the Jalisco state government earlier in the week.
Jalisco produces around 11% of the country's poultry meat and 50% of its eggs, according to the US department of agriculture.
As a precautionary measure, Mexican authorities declared a national animal health emergency on Monday to help prevent the disease spreading to other parts of Mexico or further afield.
The ministry has ordered vaccinations from Asia and is also developing its own drugs domestically to combat the flu.
Health officials are on high alert for new viruses in Mexico since the outbreak of H1N1 virus, known as "swine flu", in 2009 that shut down the capital, Mexico City, for several days when it was detected in humans.
Meanwhile, an eight-year-old girl has died of bird flu in Indonesia - the country's eighth death from the disease this year.
The health ministry said the girl, from the West Java district of Karawang, died in a hospital in the capital Jakarta that had treated her since June 28.
She first developed a fever June 18, one day before going on holiday to Singapore, where a doctor diagnosed her with laryngitis, the ministry said.
The youngster returned five days later and was treated at a Karawang hospital before being transferred to Jakarta.
The ministry says the girl might have had contact with slaughtered chickens she and her father bought from a local market.
Bird flu has killed more than 350 people worldwide. Indonesia accounts for 158 of the deaths.