Officials and chicken farmers in Brazil have stepped up sanitary controls close to where the country's first case of avian influenza was found on a commercial farm, while racing to track the virus to stop its spread.

Brazil, one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of poultry, has confirmed the country’s first bird flu outbreak on a commercial farm.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil on Friday confirmed its first case of the highly contagious bird flu virus on a commercial chicken farm in the south of the nation, triggering a temporary trade ban from its main trade partner China. *Brazil is the world's largest meat exporter and second largest producer behind the United States.