Turkeys hanging in a slaughterhouse in Calera (Chile), in a file picture Roberto Candia (AP)
A 53-year-old man who arrived at a health center with pneumonia has been confirmed by the Chilean Health Ministry as the first person to have been infected with bird flu in the South American country. The patient, who resides in a coastal town in the north of the country, arrived at the hospital with a picture of a severe acute respiratory infection, reported the Minister of Health, Ximena Aguilera, for whom the tests prescribed by the protocol and the Institute of Health Pública (ISP) confirmed later, that he was infected with the H5N1 virus. The patient was hospitalized in complete isolation, although Aguilera assured that “there has been no human-to-human transmission” and “there is no risk of contagion for the rest of the staff”.
There is no clarity on the source of the contagion, but the Department of Health’s epidemiology teams are working to find out. However, Minister Aguilera recalled that the bird flu virus is transmitted through contact with sick animals and that they usually die as a result of the disease. The public health specialist recalled that the H5N1 virus has “increasingly affected marine mammals across the continent, such as sea lions, which are sometimes found by people on beaches”.
Aguilera, who affirmed that the patient was stable within his severity grade, noted that “there is currently no human-to-human transmission of this avian influenza picture.” He therefore called for preventive measures to be stepped up. If you find dead birds or animals, he assured, you should not approach, touch or move them, but in the case of birds, contact authorities at Livestock Agricultural Service, SAG, or the National Fisheries Service, Sernapesca. in marine animals.
The Chilean health authority said the incubation period of the virus – from contamination of the person to the onset of symptoms – is between five and seven days, but “quickly progresses to pneumonia”. He also reported that the infected patient is stable in severity in northern Chile.
On March 13, the Department of Agriculture reported the first case of bird flu in the white meat industry, stating that “it doesn’t affect consumption at all.” The minister of the portfolio, Esteban Valenzuela, then assured that they would proceed to complete the export “while respecting the highest standards, with Chile’s seriousness in its commitment to the OMSA (World Organization for Animal Health)”. “We are confident that in a month, after the 28 days in which there are farm monitoring protocols, we can gradually restore the capacity for poultry exports,” assured Valenzuela in the middle of the month.
The local press has reported on what is happening in certain areas, such as the Carlos Anwandter nature reserve in the Los Ríos region, the capital of which is Valdivia (about 850 kilometers south of Santiago de Chile). According to expert calculations, up to 15% of the swan population in this national park could die from an outbreak of bird flu. The SAG has already burned 136 copies to prevent the spread.