The Government of Peru, through the National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa), announced that the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) published today on its official website the report self-declaring Peru as a country free of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in poultry.
Senasa, an agency under the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri), emphasized that the aforementioned report was prepared after successfully meeting the requirements established by the world organization.
She stated that this achievement is the result of intense coordinated epidemiological surveillance, control, and eradication of outbreaks detected during the HPAI outbreak that affected several regions since the disease was detected in November 2022.
Furthermore, no new outbreaks have been detected in poultry (commercial farms) since July 2024, according to the epidemiological surveillance carried out.
In this regard, the document prepared by Senasa describes the measures adopted since the confirmation of the first outbreak, the culling and disinfection actions, and the epidemiological surveillance carried out, which support the country's free status according to the WHO Terrestrial Animal Health Code.
"Today we celebrate a milestone in national poultry health, the result of the commitment of poultry producers and Senasa. Recovering this status opens new opportunities for our poultry exports and strengthens the country's food security," stated Senasa head, Vilma Gutarra.
It should be noted that the WOAH defines poultry as those whose products are used for commercial purposes. This implies that the emergence of new cases of HPAI in birds whose products are used exclusively within the same household, or in wild birds, would not affect the country's health status with regard to the trade of poultry products.
Self-declaration is based on strict compliance with WOAH guidelines, including control measures such as quarantine, stamping out, safe disposal of carcasses, cleaning and disinfection of affected premises, as well as the implementation of active surveillance campaigns throughout the country.
The restoration of the HPAI-free status has immediate positive impacts on international trade, as many international markets require this status as a requirement for importing poultry products, such as Singapore and China, among others.
Main measures implemented
The implementation of the Action Plan for the Prevention of Avian Influenza in Peru, which establishes preventive actions, strategies, and operational techniques for prevention, control, and eradication in the event of a possible outbreak of avian influenza.
Regarding the movement of goods, poultry and poultry products undergo strict controls and quarantine upon entering the country. Nationwide, movement is only authorized with official health certificates.
Similarly, upon confirmation of HPAI in domestic poultry farms, Senasa is implementing health measures to control the outbreak, such as quarantine, slaughter, and sanitary disposal of carcasses, disinfection of facilities, sentinelization of farms, and awareness-raising among poultry producers.
This includes perifocal surveillance to determine the health status of poultry in farms near the outbreak, for the duration of the quarantine.
Antibody surveillance against the HPAI virus is also being carried out in domestic birds raised on poultry farms in at-risk areas, as well as monitoring farms with vaccinated birds using molecular tests, and monitoring wild bird-watching areas on the Peruvian coast.
Through these activities, more than 29,000 serological tests and 14,345 molecular tests were collected and processed to rule out HPAI in 2024. In addition, during 2025, 7,228 and 5,315 samples were collected, respectively.
Vaccination permits
Furthermore, since March 2023, Senasa has granted vaccination permits against this disease in commercial laying poultry farms, grandparent breeders, parent breeders, duck and turkey fattening farms, and fighting bird farms.
To date, permits have been granted for the administration of 249,184,416 doses in 407 poultry farms, with a total of 212,323,081 doses administered.
To complement this, training is being provided to authorized veterinarians, breeders, poultry producers, and all those involved in poultry health.
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(END) NDP / MDV
Published: 4/29/2025