Senasa Specialist: “Consumption of poultry meat is not a risk of transmission of avian influenza”

Jorge Mantilla, director of disease control and eradication at Senasa, assured that there is no risk of contracting bird flu if people consume poultry meat 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 Senas it eliminates 100% of sick and contact birds so that this case does not happen, but in case it happens, there are no studies demonstrating this transmission through this route, ”he explained in the Las Cosas Como Son program. from RPP.

Mantilla confirmed that this is the first time this has been reported in Peru. this highly pathogenic virus such as H5N1. Although he specified that virus It can be transmitted from birds to humans, he argued that the likelihood of its occurrence is quite low.

“The avian influenza virus has a combined character and, according to the classification of the World Organization for Animal Health, only groups H5 and H7 are highly pathogenic. In our country, H5 was detected for the first time, not another time,” the specialist emphasized.

On the other hand, he emphasized that the spread of this flu occurs mainly through direct contact between birds and through the faeces excreted by infected birds. For this reason, the task Senas is to avoid the transfer of wild birds to domestic birds, and he stressed that companies in the sector need to improve their overall biosecurity protocols.

Health 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 rule states that any individual or legal entity is prohibited from:

– Removal of live poultry and risk products from areas classified as outbreak, peri- outbreak and surveillance of highly pathogenic avian influenza, without the permission of the National Agricultural Health Service.

– Transportation of live poultry and risk products within the country without a health certificate issued by the National Agricultural Health Service.