MEXICO CITY, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Guatemala will vaccinate a total of 1.5 million poultry on the border with Mexico to prevent bird flu from spreading from Mexico into its territories, a Guatemalan health official in charge of poultry hygiene said Friday.

    "Guatemala is free of the (bird flu) virus and we want to make sure it does not reach our farms," Eduardo Spiegeler, head of the country's poultry hygiene program, told reporters in Guatemala City.

    The Guatemalan authorities stepped up hygiene measures at the Mexican frontier last week, after Mexican officials announced the detection of a low-risk bird flu virus in four areas of the southeastern state of Chiapas. The Mexican officials said the outbreak was under control.

    The Guatemalan government has asked the population to abstain from eating all eggs or poultry coming from Mexico, due to the smuggling of poultry products which have not passed the hygiene inspections at the border. Enditem