Avian flu: The most challenging year showed the firmness of Argentine poultry farming

2023 has been one of the most challenging years for Argentine poultry farming, with the outbreak of avian flu in the region as an inexorable milestone that tested the mettle of the sector and the efficiency of the entire health system. The disease was already present in South America since 2022, but the first outbreaks in Argentina began to be detected in February in wild birds, in the province of Jujuy and then continued in poultry and in productive establishments of both chickens and laying hens. In the five months that the plague lasted, 18 commercial establishments and some 2.2 million birds were affected. In this way, the country lost the avian flu-free category, which forced exports to be interrupted, and regained it in August when outbreaks in poultry were controlled. “This year, when avian influenza was present for the first time in Argentina, it leaves us with the discontent of having stopped being a free country and of having to go through this terrible disease that has ...