After avian influenza was detected in Lajas and Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico Agriculture Secretary Irving Rodríguez Torres said on Tuesday that the department is focused on precautionary measures to prevent further spread that could threaten the poultry industry. The Health Department is monitoring about 27 people who were at the two affected private farms. "The concern is total," Rodríguez Torres said at the biweekly "En Récord" press conference at La Fortaleza.
The concern is total,
The Agriculture Department confirmed the deaths of 20 Creole ducks, 30 guinea fowl and other birds in the two towns from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The secretary said the sites are private farms, not commercial operations, and that migratory birds are suspected as the source. He said the department is in direct contact with the largest producers and companies.
He urged residents and poultry farmers to report signs such as high mortality or weakened birds to the federal USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at 1-866-536-7593 or Puerto Rico’s Agriculture Department at 787-721-2120. Health Secretary Víctor Ramos Otero said epidemiological surveillance covers all contacts at both sites and that no one has had symptoms so far.
He said human transmission is "very low" and treatment is the same as for any influenza. Ramos Otero also said the department is watching for a possible imported measles case after a third measles death was reported in Pennsylvania, given heavy travel between Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico. He said Puerto Rico has the highest vaccination level in the US and has had no measles case since 1980.
Pennsylvania had 676 cases in 37 of its 67 counties as of Friday, 124 hospitalized.