One year after the arrival of avian flu in the country, the risk of resurgence exists and producers allocated almost 5 million Bolivians to vaccinate more than 24 million laying and rearing birds.
The vice president of the Departmental Association of Poultry Farmers (ADA), Iván Carreón, reported that the disease arrived in the “country to stay” and “the challenge for ADA is to continue producing eggs and chicken meat with the presence of the disease.”
“The bird flu is not gone, the flu has entered our country to stay. It’s not that we have defeated it. We have stopped mortality using biosecurity and mainly vaccines. We, as poultry farmers, have to learn to work with the presence of this disease,” she said.
ADA reported that it allocated more than 4.6 million bolivianos for the vaccination of 19.8 million laying birds and 791 thousand breeding birds throughout the country.
The baby chicken, intended for egg production (laying), comes from Santa Cruz already with one vaccine and during the breeding season, up to 16 weeks, it receives two vaccines.
After applying the first dose against influenza, the birds develop antibodies within seven days. At 28, they reach the maximum level of antibodies and producers carry out studies to know when the next dose should be applied.
“I believe that six months from now we will have a more realistic idea of how to work against this disease. Today we do not know at what age we have to vaccinate again,” Carreon explained.
The director of the National Agricultural Health and Food Safety Service (Senasag), Juan Martínez Lima, indicated that there is a “possibility of a resurgence” of the disease due to the migration of wild birds that stay in the water bodies of Cochabamba.
“We are warned, we have reinforced biosecurity, the producers have done very well, the problems are in the municipalities due to backyard birds. There were no alerts; If we have something, we will let you know,” he said.
Carreón explained that, from May 2023 to date, Cochabamba is in epidemiological silence, but migratory birds arrive in Cochabamba in December, January and February, a situation that worries the poultry sector.
The arrival of avian flu caused great economic losses for producers, who have had to assume the purchase of vaccines and payment for laboratory analysis. “The Government has not financed vaccines, it is a private action that we have taken. This is between 300 and 400 bolivianos per thousand doses of vaccines. For a shed with 10 thousand birds, you have to invest between 3 and 4 thousand bolivianos. Many times the producer himself must assume that cost,” he said.
On January 28, 2023, Senasag declared a state of national animal health emergency after having confirmed the presence of a case of avian flu at a poultry farm in Sacaba.
60% of Cochabamba’s chicken production is sent to the west of the country (La Paz, Oruro and Potosí).
2024-01-03 12:12:19
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