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Source: Reuters Foundation
Date: 15 Feb 2006
Niger mobilises to face bird flu threat from south
By Abdoulaye Massalatchi
NIAMEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Niger has sent health experts, vets and soldiers to help protect its 1,500 km (900 mile) border with Nigeria as fears rise that a bird flu outbreak in its southern neighbour could spread, officials said on Wednesday.
After the deadly H5N1 virus was detected last week in poultry in northern Nigerian states, international experts believe it may be only a matter of time before it crops up in landlocked Niger, one of the world's poorest nations.
Niger authorities have been investigating dead chickens and ducks found in the border towns of Magaria and Zinder this week, but say no cases have been confirmed so far. They say test results could take several days because the country has no specialised laboratory and samples must be sent abroad.
"There is clearly a public health problem and the government must react as soon as possible," government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar said in a television broadcast.
He urged the population not to panic and added that if bird flu was detected, the government would carry out a mass cull of infected fowl and compensate their owners. "Poultry is not essential to us, saving human lives is," he said.
The government has also launched a public awareness campaign urging people to report bird deaths. Messages were being broadcast by local radio stations.
Nigeria's immediate neighbours and other African countries have banned poultry imports. Their governments have appealed for international aid to combat the disease on the world's poorest continent, whose health systems are poorly equipped to deal with a pandemic.
WEST AFRICAN EFFORT
Senegal said on Wednesday it would hold a regional conference next week for trade and livestock ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), aimed at forging a concerted effort in combating the spread of the virus.
"All ECOWAS members countries are invited to attend the meeting," Cheikh Sadibou Fall, an adviser at Senegal's livestock ministry, told Reuters.
The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu strain has killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East. In the last few days, several European Union countries have reported finding the virus in wild swans.
On the Niger-Nigeria border, customs officers, forest rangers and national guard soldiers in the regions of Tahoua, Maradi and Zinder were seizing all poultry coming north from Nigeria, including birds carried by pedestrians.
These birds were being killed and burnt, officials said.
Local officials said many people appeared not to know about the ban or the risks of the disease.
Niger's biggest chicken farm is located at Maradi near the frontier. "I am very worried because the death of one chicken could destroy my entire capital," said owner Hamani Labo.
Labo, who owns about 6,000 chickens, said some 6,000 more he had ordered from Egypt[!] remained stuck at Lagos port in Nigeria.
"Who will pay me back? A laying hen costs 4,000 CFA francs ($7.26)," he said.
Local and international experts say Africa, where millions live in close contact with chickens and other domestic birds and where health and education systems are weak, runs a serious risk of human infection from the disease
(Additional reporting by Diadie Ba in Dakar)
Date: 15 Feb 2006
Niger mobilises to face bird flu threat from south
By Abdoulaye Massalatchi
NIAMEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Niger has sent health experts, vets and soldiers to help protect its 1,500 km (900 mile) border with Nigeria as fears rise that a bird flu outbreak in its southern neighbour could spread, officials said on Wednesday.
After the deadly H5N1 virus was detected last week in poultry in northern Nigerian states, international experts believe it may be only a matter of time before it crops up in landlocked Niger, one of the world's poorest nations.
Niger authorities have been investigating dead chickens and ducks found in the border towns of Magaria and Zinder this week, but say no cases have been confirmed so far. They say test results could take several days because the country has no specialised laboratory and samples must be sent abroad.
"There is clearly a public health problem and the government must react as soon as possible," government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar said in a television broadcast.
He urged the population not to panic and added that if bird flu was detected, the government would carry out a mass cull of infected fowl and compensate their owners. "Poultry is not essential to us, saving human lives is," he said.
The government has also launched a public awareness campaign urging people to report bird deaths. Messages were being broadcast by local radio stations.
Nigeria's immediate neighbours and other African countries have banned poultry imports. Their governments have appealed for international aid to combat the disease on the world's poorest continent, whose health systems are poorly equipped to deal with a pandemic.
WEST AFRICAN EFFORT
Senegal said on Wednesday it would hold a regional conference next week for trade and livestock ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), aimed at forging a concerted effort in combating the spread of the virus.
"All ECOWAS members countries are invited to attend the meeting," Cheikh Sadibou Fall, an adviser at Senegal's livestock ministry, told Reuters.
The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu strain has killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East. In the last few days, several European Union countries have reported finding the virus in wild swans.
On the Niger-Nigeria border, customs officers, forest rangers and national guard soldiers in the regions of Tahoua, Maradi and Zinder were seizing all poultry coming north from Nigeria, including birds carried by pedestrians.
These birds were being killed and burnt, officials said.
Local officials said many people appeared not to know about the ban or the risks of the disease.
Niger's biggest chicken farm is located at Maradi near the frontier. "I am very worried because the death of one chicken could destroy my entire capital," said owner Hamani Labo.
Labo, who owns about 6,000 chickens, said some 6,000 more he had ordered from Egypt[!] remained stuck at Lagos port in Nigeria.
"Who will pay me back? A laying hen costs 4,000 CFA francs ($7.26)," he said.
Local and international experts say Africa, where millions live in close contact with chickens and other domestic birds and where health and education systems are weak, runs a serious risk of human infection from the disease
(Additional reporting by Diadie Ba in Dakar)
