MOZAMBIQUE - Bird flu surveillance

[Gaby]

MOZAMBIQUE LAUNCHES ANTI-BIRD FLU SURVEILLANCE

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/
July 04, 2006 at 11:37 AM

Via allAfrica.com: Mozambique: Surveillance Campaign Against Bird Flu Launched. Excerpt:

Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido launched on Monday a surveillance campaign against bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus.

Addressing Mozambican reporters, Garrido called for the education of citizens on the measures to be taken because "this is essential to check this disease in case of an outbreak in the country".

To guarantee the success of this campaign, particularly in the rural areas, the authorities count on the collaboration of the district governments, who should immediately report any occurrence of the disease.

Speaking of the possibility of an outbreak of bird flu in Mozambique, Garrido said that the country is vulnerable, since it is on the migration routes of many wild birds.

"There is a high risk of Mozambique being affected, but not a single case has been reported yet. However, we must be on the alert because of what we see happening in other countries", said Garrido.

 

[Sharpe]

Re: MOZAMBIQUE - Bird flu surveillance

Parts of an interesting October Reuters summary of bird flu risk to east Africa mentioning Mozambique.

http://www.martinrothonline.com/birdfluupdate/Blogging/Oct19-22,2005.htm
Africa Vulnerable

The main risk is seen along East Africa's Rift Valley, where impoverished rural populations are already struggling under the twin disease burdens of AIDS and malaria. Birds migrating from Asia to the northern hemisphere for winter stop over in freshwater ponds, dams and lakes, possible conduits for the virus, along the Valley -- a vast geographical and geological feature that runs north to south for 5,000 km (3,100 miles) from northern Syria to central Mozambique.

East Africa is more vulnerable to bird flu than Europe and its lack of preparedness causes grave concern, a U.N. food agency expert said on Monday. Joseph Domenech, veterinary chief at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, said the wild bird migratory patterns that had brought the virus to Turkey and Romania ended in East Africa, making it likely the disease would arrive there.

"There are three big migration routes through Africa. There is a west African one that hugs the coastline and involves birds from western and northern Europe," said Doug Harebottle of the Avian Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town. Harebottle said the other routes took birds from central Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia down through the Rift Valley, while birds from further east in Asia flew along Africa's Indian Ocean coast. [[[in other words, Mozambique would have received birds from the Middle East in the central part of the country and from Asia along the coast. Yet still the only countries that have confirmed bird flu in east Africa are Egypt, Sudan, and one child in Djibouti.

October 20th, 2005