Mexico City – Mexico’s public health secretary said Friday that an outbreak of low-pathogenic bird flu among some chickens in the southeastern state of Chiapas does not pose a risk to humans.
The Health Department reported Thursday that it had detected the strain, AH5N2, in the birds in Chiapas, which borders Guatemala.
The strain has no relation to the deadly H5N1 strain that has already killed more than 70 people in East Asia since 2003, health officials said.
“This strain is not the dangerous kind,” Health Secretary Julio Frenk told a news conference. “This does not represent any risk.” Frenk said the AH5N2 strain often infects birds like a “common cold.” Mexico has set up a permanent operation to quickly detect any possible cases of bird flu and is prepared in the event of an outbreak, Frenk said.
So far no bird flu cases have been reported in the Americas, he said.
Frenk encouraged Mexicans to continue eating chicken, saying the country’s poultry is “100 percent safe.” Although the strain found in the Chiapas birds does not infect humans, Guatemala’s Ministry of Agriculture issued an alert Friday for officials to watch out for contraband chicken eggs, which could transmit avian flu to Guatemala’s poultry.
“There are hundreds, thousands, of hidden spots along the border where all kinds of contraband Mexican products are passed into Guatemala, but what we are worried about now is the egg, because it transmits avian flu,” Guatemalan Agriculture Minister Alvaro Aguilar said Friday.
