On May 15, 2023, Brazil, the world’s top chicken exporter, for the first time confirmed Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) cases but only in wild birds, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

Two cases were detected in wild birds and should not trigger a ban on imports of Brazilian poultry products as per guidelines from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), according to the Brazilian government.

The Brazilian government confirmed the detection of the A/H5N1 subtype of the influenza virus in two marine birds, of the Thalasseus acuflavidus species (Cabot terns), on the coast of Brazil’s southeastern state of Espirito Santo. The Cabot terns’ migration stretches from the Northeast U.S. to Southern Chile.

Brazil’s neighbor Argentina suspended its poultry exports in late February after recording the first case of bird flu in its poultry industry in southern Rio Negro province but resumed exports from bird flu free areas in late March.

A record number of chicken, turkeys and other birds have died in outbreaks in the U.S., Europe and Britain, and the virus is spreading in South America, Africa, and Asia. Losses of poultry flocks have contributed to record high prices for eggs and turkey meat in some places. While humans can contract H5N1, cases remain very rare, and global health officials have said the risk to humans is low.