Chile’s health ministry confirmed on Wednesday that the country had seen its first human case of avian flu. The instance was found in a 53-year-old man who had severe influenza symptoms but was otherwise healthy, according to a statement issued by the ministry, according to Reuters.
The government is also examining who else came into contact with the patient and how the sickness spread.
Chile has only recorded H5N1 bird flu infections in wild animals since late last year.
According to Reuters, Chilean officials confirmed a bird flu outbreak last week at a commercial building in the southern district of Maule.
“This finding was made after a complaint made to the Maule SAG (agriculture and livestock agency) about an increase in mortality on the farm of around 70 birds and another 60 that were symptomatic of the virus,” the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.
Due to recent incidents at industrial farms, the government stopped exporting poultry. Argentina has also seen industrial cases, despite Brazil, the main supplier of chicken, being unaffected.
The Extremely Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus has been detected in outbreaks in at least 14 countries in Latin America.
The first case of bird flu this year was discovered in an Ecuadorian 9-year-old girl at the beginning of the year. International health officials claim that despite the low possibility of human-to-human transmission, human avian flu vaccines have been created “just in case.”
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