A pelican dropped dead on San Ysidro Street and warned residents of the area about the risk of contracting bird flu.

The pelican fell lifeless this Wednesday in the 4th block of Teniente Romanet Street in the San Isidro area. According to Serenazgo employees, the bird was already flying very weakly when it hit a tree and ended up on the sidewalk, for this reason a panel was installed over the corpse, and the street was fenced for prevention.

RPP News managed to find out that this event happened at 13:00. However, the bird’s body is still at the scene for several hours, and Serfor and Senas employees are expected to arrive to collect the body.

An outbreak of avian influenza in birds has been known for several days and therefore Senas declared a national health emergency for 90 days, which may be extended in accordance with epidemiological assessment.

Senasa’s recommendation is that the public should not maintain contact with dead birds to avoid the possible spread of bird flu.

The National Forest and Wildlife Service (Serfor) reported yesterday that 13,869 birds have died from the H5N1 flu along the country’s coast. Of this total, there are 10,257 Peruvian pelicans, 2,919 sea boobies and 614 kamanai species. Specimens have been found mainly in Piura, Lambaeque, La Libertad, Ancache, Ica, Moquegua, Tacna and Lima.

national emergency

The National Agricultural Health Service (Senasa) has declared a national public health emergency for a period of 90 calendar days due to the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza in domestic or household birds.

The declaration of a public health emergency was formalized by the Decree of the General Government No. 0180-2022-MIDAGRI-SENASA, published on Tuesday evening in an extraordinary issue of the Official Gazette El Peruano.

The measure provides for the strengthening at the national level of surveillance and control measures for highly pathogenic avian influenza with the priority of the detection zone in order to eliminate the outbreak and prevent its spread to other geographical regions of the country.

“Consumption of poultry meat is not dangerous”

Jorge Mantilla, director of disease control and eradication at Senasa, assured that there is no risk of contracting bird flu if people eat poultry or eggs. The specialist clarified that there are currently no studies proving the opposite.

“Consumption of poultry meat and eggs does not pose a risk of transmission of avian influenza from animals to humans. We can eat it (if the bird is infected), the idea is that this process does not occur, so Senasa eliminates 100% of sick and contact birds, so this case does not occur, but if it does, there are no studies demonstrating this transmission through this path,” he explained in the program “Las Cosas as they are” RPP.