The director of the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), Osmar Benitez reported on 7 November 2017 that his team has determined that eight producers in the community of Guanabano, in Espaillat province, where an outbreak of avian flu was detected, suffered economic losses approaching RD$20 million.
Benitez noted quite firmly that the outbreak had been controlled by authorities. He added that no new outbreaks of the H5N2 virus have been detected.
The province of Espaillat is the most important province in the Dominican Republic for the production of poultry and eggs. Statistics indicate that in the dozens of farms in the area supply more than 60% of the eggs consumed in the country while others are exported to Haiti. According to data from the companies related to the sector, the Dominican Republic consumes about 5 million eggs every day.
Most of the people who live in the area were not alarmed by the outbreak of the avian flu virus, however, some poultry producers reported a loss in their sales because of the public’s fear and lack of information.
The Ministry of Public Health has published a press release explaining that neither eggs nor poultry affected by this variety of the avian flu will affect humans if the items properly cooked.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
El Dia
8 November 2017
