UPDATE: Avian flu in Mexico kills 2.5 million birds

Jul. 4, 2012, Jalisco, Mexico – Around one million birds have died or were culled at 111 poultry farms and 15 farms in Jalisco, Mexico, where the National Health and Quality Agribusiness Service (Senasica) detected in ten such facilities the H7N3 strain of avian flu.

The Senasica said it issued license to import a vaccine from Asia to be distributed at the disease-hit states where the birds are being buried with due prophylaxis (quarantine, cull and vaccination) to contain the spread and get rid of the virus.

FAO also issued a call to check the outbreak since the bird flu virus is very aggressive, adding that its presence now enters Mexico in the WHO watch list though Mexican authorities claim the strain is not a threat to human poultry consumption.

UPDATE: Jul. 11, 2012 – The agriculture ministry has announced that officials have slain 2.5 million birds over the past three weeks to contain the bird flu outbreak.

Officials have visited almost 150 farms, with 3.4 million birds affected.

An article from Agence France Presse reports that, “after importing one million vaccines from Pakistan, the farming officials said they have developed a seed-based vaccine that they will deliver to four laboratories to produce over 80 million doses initially.”