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Source: http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=86553
Migratory birds pose danger to bringing avian flu to Gabon
APA Libreville (Gabon) Some 40,000 migratory birds flying in transit each year through Gabon, potentially expose this country to a bird flu outbreak, the national coordinator of the bird flu project, Rubain Goda Tsoubou said here.
Though Gabon has never experienced such epizooty, the birds represent a permanent danger for domestic animals, Tsoubou warned at the end of a training seminar intended for Gabonese media on the comprehension of bird flu, particularly its propagation mode and the appropriate communication system.
Tsoubou explained that wild birds like ducks are natural H5N1 strain carriers but they do not transmit the flu because of the genetic structure of their organism.
While flying in transit in Gabon, wild birds can leave the virus in their droppings on rivers or any other places. This can seriously threaten the trade of the country?s poultry farmers who often import day-old chicks.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned the Gabonese authorities against such situation as it initiated the seminar and funded the country?s bird flu cell.
As the plague so far spared Gabon, the country?s authorities rather gave little financial credit to its bird flu project.
The world?s health organization responsible for the health of animals which fears about a new bird flu outbreak, compelled all countries, as well as crisis-hit ones, to provide for a biannual scientific report on the avian situation, building on the surveys carried out on at least 80 percent of poultry sold nationwide.
In 2008, 22 countries experienced bird flu outbreak.
Migratory birds pose danger to bringing avian flu to Gabon
APA Libreville (Gabon) Some 40,000 migratory birds flying in transit each year through Gabon, potentially expose this country to a bird flu outbreak, the national coordinator of the bird flu project, Rubain Goda Tsoubou said here.
Though Gabon has never experienced such epizooty, the birds represent a permanent danger for domestic animals, Tsoubou warned at the end of a training seminar intended for Gabonese media on the comprehension of bird flu, particularly its propagation mode and the appropriate communication system.
Tsoubou explained that wild birds like ducks are natural H5N1 strain carriers but they do not transmit the flu because of the genetic structure of their organism.
While flying in transit in Gabon, wild birds can leave the virus in their droppings on rivers or any other places. This can seriously threaten the trade of the country?s poultry farmers who often import day-old chicks.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned the Gabonese authorities against such situation as it initiated the seminar and funded the country?s bird flu cell.
As the plague so far spared Gabon, the country?s authorities rather gave little financial credit to its bird flu project.
The world?s health organization responsible for the health of animals which fears about a new bird flu outbreak, compelled all countries, as well as crisis-hit ones, to provide for a biannual scientific report on the avian situation, building on the surveys carried out on at least 80 percent of poultry sold nationwide.
In 2008, 22 countries experienced bird flu outbreak.