BRASÍLIA, May 29 — Brasilia’s zoo shut out visitors yesterday after detecting suspected fatal cases of bird flu in a pigeon and a duck two weeks after an outbreak was detected on a poultry farm in Brazil’s south.
The agriculture department announced the zoo in Brazil’s capital would be closed temporarily, but without saying when it will reopen.
The dead birds were wild, not part of the zoo’s stock, said the department, adding the risk of human infection “is considered low.”
Brazil, the world’s leading exporter of chicken meat, halted shipments to 24 countries — including China, its biggest customer — after registering a bird flu outbreak on a farm in the state of Rio Grande do Sul on May 16.
Infections in humans can cause severe disease with a high mortality rate, according to the World Health Organization, but the virus does not appear to move easily from person to person.
Human cases detected so far were mostly in people who had close contact with infected birds and other animals, or contaminated environments. — AFP
