Argentina declares freedom from H5N1 avian influenza
WOAH confirms the end of the outbreak in commercial and backyard poultry
ARGENTINA – Argentina has officially declared itself free from H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) after the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) confirmed that the outbreak in both commercial and backyard flocks has been resolved.
The country had faced one confirmed case of HPAI in a commercial setting after the virus was detected on August 17 at a laying hen farm in Buenos Aires Province.
According to WOAH, the affected site housed 33,000 hens, of which 12,700 died as a result of the virus, while the remaining 20,300 were destroyed to contain the spread.
In addition to the depopulation of the birds, authorities also destroyed 65,000 fresh eggs and eliminated packaging materials stored at the site.
By September 29, 28 days had passed since cleaning and disinfection activities were completed at the affected farm, with no new infections reported in commercial poultry.
On that basis, Argentina submitted a self-declaration to WOAH confirming that the H5N1 outbreak in commercial production is no longer active.
At the same time, WOAH reported that the disease situation in backyard flocks had also been closed following several earlier cases.
Since July 14, Argentina recorded four HPAI incidents among non-commercial birds, three of which were in Buenos Aires and one in Entre Rios Province.
Across these backyard outbreaks, a total of 1,125 birds were lost through mortality and culling measures.
With no further detections since the last official notification, Argentina has now been recognized as free of H5N1 in both commercial and non-commercial poultry.
WOAH noted that surveillance remains ongoing nationwide, using both active and passive monitoring to ensure early detection in case the virus reappears.
Following these declarations, there are no active avian influenza reports currently listed for Argentina on the WOAH database.
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