Mexico declared Wednesday that it has overcome a bird flu outbreak in the west of the country that had triggered the slaughter of 22 million hens since June.

"We can say the event has been overcome and declare that the outbreak is totally under control," President Felipe Calderon said, noting that no new cases of H7N3 influenza were reported for 68 days in a row.

Most of the hens were culled in the western state of Jalisco and a vaccination drive prevented the virus from reaching other regions, he said.

The outbreak caused egg prices to soar in Mexico, a big problem in the world's biggest consumer of eggs per capita.

Mexico authorized imports in a bid to make up for the shortage, bringing in 14,000 tonnes of eggs from abroad, mostly from the United States.