Bird flu confirmed at an egg farm in Mexico's Yucatán state
Officials ordered all 225,860 hens culled. Mexico's agriculture ministry says eggs and poultry are safe to eat; the WHO rates the risk to the public as low.
Mexico's agriculture ministry confirmed Thursday that highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has reached a commercial egg farm in Umán, in the southeastern state of Yucatán. The farm housed 225,860 laying hens, about 0.09% of the national flock.
The alarm went up when 862 birds died, an unusually high toll. An official lab in Mérida found the H5 subtype in samples, which then went to a biosafety level 3 lab in Mexico City's Palo Alto neighborhood, where the virus will be isolated and sequenced. Those results are not yet public.
The national animal health agency, known as Senasica, reports four measures:
- A permanent quarantine of the farm and the culling of every bird, with disposal of waste and disinfection of the buildings.
- Sampling at every broiler, laying and breeder farm within 10 kilometers (6 miles).
- Inspection of nearby bodies of water where migratory birds arrive in winter.
- A review of whether to authorize emergency vaccination on neighboring farms.
On the question consumers ask first, the ministry is blunt: eating poultry and eggs is "completely safe." It adds that the case does not threaten the national poultry industry.
The World Health Organization largely agrees. Its H5N1 questions-and-answers page, last updated in May 2024, says meat and eggs can be eaten safely when properly prepared, and warns against raw or undercooked products from outbreak areas. Its April 2025 assessment for Mexico puts the risk to the general public at low, and at low to moderate for people exposed to birds through their work.
Yucatán has been here before. The same virus hit three egg-producing operations in the state in November 2022, affecting 312,756 birds, the ministry reported, and the national emergency was declared over by an order published Oct. 4, 2023. In people, Mexico reported its first confirmed H5N1 case to the WHO in April 2025, a 10-year-old in Durango, with no other linked cases.
What is different now is the timing. The outbreak comes as migratory bird season begins, and the ministry says it will step up surveillance nationwide through the winter. It is investigating whether the infection is tied to those birds and has not confirmed a link.
Senasica asks producers and poultry workers to tighten biosecurity. Suspected cases can be reported on its hotline, 800 751 2100, or on WhatsApp at 55 3996 4462.
The WHO's guidance on consumption applies to the general population. For people who work with birds, the risk is assessed separately, and Senasica and health authorities set their guidance.
