Mexico kills 2.5 million poultry to contain bird flu

AFP | 5 hours ago
MEXICO CITY: Officials have slain 2.5 million birds at poultry farms in western Mexico over the past three weeks in an attempt to contain a bird flu outbreak, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.

The virus responsible for Mexico’s current bird flu outbreak, H7N3, has occasionally caused human disease in various parts of the world, according to the United Nations, but has not shown itself to be easily transmittable between humans.

Officials said they have visited 148 poultry farms. Of those, bird flu was found in 31 farms, while 34 came up negative and results for the remainder were pending.

Of the 3.4 million affected poultry, “the number of birds that have been sacrificed as a control and eradication measure as of (Monday) is 2.5 million,” the ministry said in a statement.

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