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Latin
America at lowest of risk bird
flu in world
Latin America is the area at the
lowest risk of a bird flu
epidemic, Moises Vargas Teran,
head of animal health for the
Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) of the United
Nations, said on Thursday.
Although Latin American
countries are free of the
disease, the region "must think
ahead, and all Latin American
countries have established
control mechanisms for that
reason," Vargas Teran told media
on the sidelines of the 29th
Latin American and Caribbean
conference of the FAO, which
will end here on Friday.
The official said that FAO would
spend 2 million U.S. dollars
over 18 months on four programs,
which were subdivided by four
regions across the continent to
prevent the disease, whose
aggressive expansion could
affect both domestic and wild
birds.
The FAO recommends biological
security measures, preventing
migratory birds from having
contact with domestic birds, and
controlling poultry farm visits.
The deadly H5N1 strain of bird
flu has killed at least 113
people in the world, and
infected birds in Asia, Africa,
the Middle East and Europe.
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