Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Getting Nigerians to protect themselves from bird flu
By Ojoma Akor and Judd-Leonard Okafor | Publish Date: Jan 25 2016 9:42PM | Updated Date: Jan 25 2016 9:43PM
Within the last one year, there has been a consistent outbreak of bird flu also known as avian influenza in the country. The disease has killed over three million birds in about 24 states. It is also a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans just like Lassa fever, Ebola and rabies among others.
?Although no human case of bird flu has yet been reported since the resurgence of the disease in January 2015, the potential risk of human infection from poultry is real, as had happened during the last outbreak in 2006 to 2008,? says Dr. Edgar Amos Sunday, National President, Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association.
A family physician and chairman of Infection, Prevention and Control committee at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr Nicholas Baamlong says health experts also campaign against the disease because humans get it when they eat infected birds or are constantly in contact with them.
Another expert, Dr Gbenga Ariyo, a veterinary surgeon says avian influenza is a highly infectious zoonotic disease with a high fatality rate among humans, and it is important for Nigerians to take heed to basic hygiene requirements especially hand washing.
He said: ?Those at risk include people in contact with birds, poultry farms and bird feces. They include poultry workers and farmers, veterinary officers attending to infected birds, medical personnel attending to infected persons, environment and health officers, poultry bird transporters, poultry bird sellers and buyers in the market.?
He said we must be wary of the fact that this strain can change to another strain that is much more dangerous like the strain that caused the 1918 Spanish Flu that resulted in the death of 100 million people.
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Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/h...from-bird-flu/130678.html#m394YKe0IjTGZvxL.99
By Ojoma Akor and Judd-Leonard Okafor | Publish Date: Jan 25 2016 9:42PM | Updated Date: Jan 25 2016 9:43PM
Within the last one year, there has been a consistent outbreak of bird flu also known as avian influenza in the country. The disease has killed over three million birds in about 24 states. It is also a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans just like Lassa fever, Ebola and rabies among others.
?Although no human case of bird flu has yet been reported since the resurgence of the disease in January 2015, the potential risk of human infection from poultry is real, as had happened during the last outbreak in 2006 to 2008,? says Dr. Edgar Amos Sunday, National President, Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association.
A family physician and chairman of Infection, Prevention and Control committee at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr Nicholas Baamlong says health experts also campaign against the disease because humans get it when they eat infected birds or are constantly in contact with them.
Another expert, Dr Gbenga Ariyo, a veterinary surgeon says avian influenza is a highly infectious zoonotic disease with a high fatality rate among humans, and it is important for Nigerians to take heed to basic hygiene requirements especially hand washing.
He said: ?Those at risk include people in contact with birds, poultry farms and bird feces. They include poultry workers and farmers, veterinary officers attending to infected birds, medical personnel attending to infected persons, environment and health officers, poultry bird transporters, poultry bird sellers and buyers in the market.?
He said we must be wary of the fact that this strain can change to another strain that is much more dangerous like the strain that caused the 1918 Spanish Flu that resulted in the death of 100 million people.
...
Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/h...from-bird-flu/130678.html#m394YKe0IjTGZvxL.99