Ivory Coast - Suspected bird flu outbreak

[Theresa42]

Suspected bird flu outbreak in Ivory Coast
April 13, 2006

ABIDJAN (AFP) - A suspected outbreak of bird flu has been discovered in a village in the Bondoukou region of Ivory Coast, Bondoukou's deputy regional governor Jean-Paul Kablan said.

If confirmed, it would be the first outbreak of the disease in Ivory Coast, whose government has been urging calm since the first case of the deadly H5N1 virus in Africa was confirmed in February.

Kablan said the deaths of around 100 chickens and four dogs who ate their carcasses had caused "panic" in the community, situated 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Abidjan.

"A week ago we noticed some suspicious poultry deaths in rural farms in Soko and scientists came from Abidjan to take swabs," he said.

"The people are very worried and are eagerly awaiting the test results," he added.

Kablan said hen houses had been "systematically burned" in response but complained of a "shortage of resources".

The first case of H5N1 in Africa was confirmed in Nigeria on February 26.

Since then, poultry farmers in the east of Ivory Coast, the country's main bird-rearing region, have suffered a dramatic fall in trade due to fear of the disease.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060413/hl_afp/icoasthealthflu_060413192822

[Snowy Owl]

Fears of bird flu in Ivory Coast

Fears of bird flu in Ivory Coast
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1145010063 710R131

<table style="width: 405px; height: 44px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="width: 360px;" class="caption"> April 14 2006 at 01:26PM </td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2" style="height: 1px; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);">
</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="23" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr> <td class="svarticletext"> Nairobi - Ivory Coast is investigating the possibility of bird flu after five dogs died after eating the carcasses some 100 chickens that recently died in the town of Bondunku, some 500km east of the commercial capital Abidjan, news reports said on Friday.

If confirmed, it would be the first case of bird flu and prove difficult to track in the conflict-ridden west African country.

The world's largest cocoa producer has been split into a government-held south and a rebel-controlled north since a botched coup attempt to unseat President Gbagbo in 2003.

Some 10 000 United Nations troops currently police a buffer zone separating the two sides.

Nigeria reported Africa's first case of the lethal H5N1 strain of the bird-flu virus on February 26.

It has since spread to Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Egypt where it has reportedly killed two people.
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