No epidemic of the acute avian flu has been reported in Iran since the beginning of the current fiscal year (March 21), an official with Iran’s Veterinary Organization said.
Ali-Safar Makan-Ali added that strict safety measures have been put in place this year.
Last year (March 2017-18), according to the official, close to 100 poultry production units were infected with the virus and in Qazvin Province alone, five million infected chickens were culled, IRNA reported.
“Following the preventive measures, the poultry industry’s production has witnessed a 20% growth this year compared to last year,” he said.
Director General of IVO’s Health and Management of Poultry Diseases Office Alireza Akbarshahi told Financial Tribune that 2.5 million chickens have been culled since the beginning of the year, a lot less than previously predicted.
Akbarshahi underlined that the chicken farms are under control and the virus has not become epidemic this year.
“So far, 30 million doses of vaccines of the highly acute avian flu have been imported. The vaccines have been planned to be used for 13,700,000 birds; 8,700 birds have been vaccinated until now,” he had said in another interview earlier this month.
One of the most important measures taken by IVO to combat the acute virus across Iran, according to the official, was the decentralization of chicken farming, especially in production hubs. Accordingly, chicken farming has spread across the country.
Iranian poultry farms have been dealing with the deadly avian flu, especially the H5N8 strain of the virus, for several years now. Annual outbreaks have done a number on Iran’s poultry industry.
The H5N8 strain of bird flu infecting Iranian farms is deadly for poultry, but according to World Health Organization, although human infection with the virus cannot be excluded, the likelihood is low.
According to Nasser Nabipour, the head of the board of directors at Tehran's Union of Producers of Egg-Laying Chicken, the first strains of avian flu hit Iran in the fiscal 2010-11.
"The more deadly strain of the virus emerged in 2015-16, infecting over 1,500 egg-laying hen farms," he said.
Last year's outbreak inflicted more than half a billion dollars in losses to poultry farms across the country. It also led to a sharp rise in egg prices and shortage of supply.
Later, the government moved to meet shortage and balance the market by importing eggs, mainly from Turkey.
Iran produces over 2 million tons of chicken annually and is among the biggest producer of chicken in the world. Iran’s per capita chicken consumption stands at 26-27 kg per year, while the global average is 13-15 kg.
