804,982.94 euros has been the price that the Community of Madrid has had to pay to control the largest and first poultry farm recorded in the region this year. This is a laying hen farm in Valdemoro in which 450,000 birds have been sacrificed due to this disease, which is highly contagious and fatal to the animals. The company Tragsatec has been in charge of carrying out these tasks, which aim to stop the spread of influenza throughout the territory of Madrid and its surroundings.
The order included the destruction, disinfection and burial of almost half a million chickens from this macro farm in Valdemoro, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment, Agriculture and the Interior. Part of the financing has come from European funds and from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The first of the outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, of the H5N1 subtype, in the region, was discovered on September 22 in the Andalusia park, in Alcobendas, but it affected only wild birds, specifically two geese. From that moment on it was activated.
However, on October 1, a new outbreak was discovered, in this case of poultry, in a laying hen farm in the Valdemoro municipality, which represented a special danger due to the number of specimens in contact. As the days go by, other Madrid municipalities have been added to the list: Móstoles, Alcorcón, Leganés and Fuenlabrada recorded outbreaks of wild birds and Torrejón de Velasco and Ciempozuelos recorded outbreaks of captive birds. However, as noted by the Environment spokesperson, none of them have required interventions like the one in Valdemoro.
The capital had remained free of the disease, until the first case was known on October 30, . The Madrid City Council assured that so far this was the only animal affected in the municipality and that no worker in contact with the bird had been infected. The Community of Madrid then activated the protocol of health measures to prevent the spread of the disease for the entire city, which was active only in the northern area since the first outbreak was discovered in Alcobendas.
The measures imposed by the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Interior for fifteen municipalities affected, or close to the outbreaks, include the prohibition of hunting the species most prone to the disease, such as geese and ducks, and breeding these with other species; raising birds outdoors, as far as possible; the supply of water to poultry if it comes from sources that can be accessed by wild birds; or the mandatory disinfection of people and vehicles that visit farms of this type.
According to the ministry’s document, “highly pathogenic avian influenza causes systemic disease [a diferencia de la de baja patogenicidad, que provoca una enfermedad leve] and it is extremely contagious, with a high mortality within 24 hours in commercial poultry farms.” Although it is highly infectious among these animals, the H5N1 subtype of the disease does not have significant zoonotic capacity, that is, it is unlikely that it can be transmitted to humans and cannot do so through cooked poultry meat, eggs or processed products derived from them.
The first outbreak in Spain was detected in March in a peregrine falcon and in July, the first in domestic birds, in a turkey fattening farm. This last case broke ―since February 2023 when the last outbreak was recorded until then in Lleida―. The consequences of these new outbreaks have reached exports: this summer China prohibited the entry into its territory, either directly or through third countries, of fresh and processed meat and poultry products from Spain.
