By Ana Mano and Sybille de La Hamaide
SAO PAULO/PARIS (Reuters) -Preliminary test results indicate a commercial chicken farm in Brazil’s state of Tocantins is free from bird flu, a disease that can trigger trade bans, according to a statement from the state’s farm agency on Wednesday sent in response to Reuters questions.
The initial test results are a boon to the world’s top chicken exporter, which is reeling from regional and countrywide trade embargoes following confirmation of Brazil’s first bird flu outbreak on a commercial farm in the country’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul.
A farm in Tocantins state and another in Santa Catarina state have been under investigation for bird flu after confirmation of that first outbreak.
The World Organisation for Animal Health on Wednesday encouraged the use of zoning, a method focusing disease controls on affected regions rather than the entire country, to contain the spread of bird flu in Brazil and enable international trade.
Under WOAH rules, if a country detects a bird flu outbreak in one region, it can declare that region a disease control zone and maintain disease-free status – and trade – from other zones that are unaffected.
Adapec, as the state’s farm agency is known, said authorities started the investigation on a local commercial chicken farm after seven animals, out of about 40,000, presented “torticollis” symptoms, the statement said.
“There was no high mortality among the flock, only the culling of the seven animals for sample collection,” the statement said.
The agency said samples were taken from the animals and sent to a federal laboratory in Sao Paulo immediately.
The Tocantins tests have indicated low pathogenicity, or mild, influenza A. The samples tested negative for highly pathogenic avian influenza – the type of bird flu that had been spreading across U.S. dairy and poultry farms – and for Newcastle Disease, which are the most worrying diseases in birds, local authorities said.
Zoning was used by the United States after it discovered bird flu outbreaks on farms, with countries like Canada, Mexico and the European Union permitting imports from disease-free regions within the U.S.
“This is particularly relevant because Brazil is a huge country. As long as a country can guarantee that it is complying with the rules, what is happening on one side of the country may have no impact on the other side,” WOAH Director General Emmanuelle Soubeyran told Reuters in an interview.
A list from the ministry of agriculture still shows the Tocantins commercial chicken farm as under investigation for a potential bird flu outbreak. Another potential case of bird flu on a commercial farm is under investigation in Santa Catarina state, according to the updated ministry’s list.
“Even with this reassuring initial result, the agriculture ministry continues to carry out additional tests,” Adapec said. “This is a precautionary measure to rule out any risk and guarantee health safety.”
(Reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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