Nigeria: 130 Farms Positive - WHO

[Theresa42]

Bird flu spreading fast in Nigeria

Bird flu spreading fast in Nigeria

Bird flu spreading fast in Nigeria
Wednesday, 15 February 2006

DANBARE, Nigeria: Suspected outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu area spreading quickly through farms around the north Nigerian city of Kano, the head of a government clean-up team said yesterday. Shehu Bawa, the leader of Kano State's bid to contain the outbreak, said at the site of the latest slaughter of sick chickens that 40 farms in a radius of 60km around the city had reported suspicious deaths.

"The disease is spreading fast," he said, as workers at the Madatai Farm in Danbare slit the throats of 5,000 hens that survived after 10,000 more birds died from what is believed to be an outbreak of avian influenza.

Earlier, federal Agriculture Minister Adamu Bello had said that five officially confirmed cases of the virus had been traced to a farm outside Kano and officials were now investigating reports from eight states in the north.

Iran became the latest country to confirm cases of bird flu yesterday after wild swans tested positive for the deadly virus that had already hit neighbouring countries.

Experts had said it was only a matter of time before H5N1 broke out in Iran, a wintering place for wild fowl who may be carriers.

Meanwhile, Greek health authorities announced that a 29-year-old hunter hospitalised in the northern city of Salonika with flu-like symptoms had tested negative for the virus, but more dead birds cropped up with the H5 strain in the north of Greece. The hunter had on Sunday checked himself into hospital when he developed a fever after handling wild ducks.

In Italy, a trucker killed his wife and child with a hammer and slit his own throat after losing his job delivering chickens because poultry sales fell on consumers' fear of bird flu, local newspapers said yesterday.

Claudio Rubello, 49, pummelled his wife and 10-year-old daughter to death in their sleep and severely beat his two teenage sons, who survived the attack, before slitting his own throat with a kitchen knife, newspapers reported.

The incident happened in Grezzano, near Verona in northern Italy, a month after Rubello lost his job because of the crash in poultry sales.

Romania yesterday confirmed a strain of avian flu had infected poultry found dead on Monday in a village near the Black Sea port of Constanta and detected new suspect cases on a farm close to the Bulgarian border.

In a related development, Russia said it plans to begin human tests of a potential bird flu vaccine in April. Russian news agencies quoted Gennady Onishchenko, the country's chief epidemiologist, as saying that the tests will be conducted on volunteers and "over a period of five weeks we will observe how the people's immune systems react."

The reports did not specify how the volunteers would be solicited or how the vaccine would be administered.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=135488&Sn=WORL&IssueID=28332

 

[viamede]

Official: Panic selling of chickens spread bird flu

Official: Panic selling of chickens spread bird flu

Fair use yadda yadda

Official: Panic selling of chickens spread bird flu





KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Panic selling of birds infected with bird flu has helped spread the H5N1 virus in Nigeria, but compensation could persuade farmers to abide by quarantine rules, a top veterinary expert said on Wednesday.
The deadly H5N1 strain was confirmed last week in four farms in three northern Nigerian states, but there have been suspected outbreaks in at least five other states in Africa's most populous country.
"Initially it was the panic selling that made it spread. Animals were being moved from farms so that the farmers wouldn't lose everything," said Lami Lombin, director of the veterinary lab that is testing samples from suspect poultry.
"Now that it's been confirmed that there will be compensation, it's better for them to keep chickens on their farms and count them. They are now beginning to comply."
The government announced last week it would give 250 naira ($2) for each culled chicken, although it has given no details of how it intends to put the plan into practice.
Lombin's team has confirmed bird flu was present in two more farms, but the lab is not able to identify strains of bird flu, and she said samples had been sent to a reference lab in Italy to test for H5N1.
The deadly strain of bird flu can pass from birds to humans but cannot yet spread between humans. It has killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East since early 2003.
The virus poses a major health risk in Nigeria because chickens run free in millions of backyards and are carried live in public transport. (Watch why officials fear Nigeria's bird flu problem will grow worse -- 1:28)
Federal authorities have ordered suspect farms to be quarantined, sick birds to be culled and transport or sale of birds from affected states to stop, but implementation has been slow in some places and has not happened at all in others.
Persuading people in the countryside to cull sick chickens and avoid contact with dead ones is difficult because people are too poor to afford throwing away meat.
The Nigerian outbreak of H5N1 is the first known appearance in Africa of the strain.
No human case has been found so far. Detecting such a case will be difficult because mortality rates are high from other diseases and health services are almost non-existent in rural areas, where people are often buried without a medical check.
In Kano state, where the deadly H5N1 strain was confirmed on two farms and more than 30 others are reporting mass poultry deaths, authorities discouraged a team of U.N. experts from visiting farms, citing security fears.
Reuters has visited farms in the state where workers who were unaware of bird flu used their bare hands to throw sick and dead chickens onto fires as children watched. Chickens have also been dying in villages, where they mingle freely with people.
A 15-strong federal government team, equipped with protective kits and chemicals to fumigate infected areas, arrived in Kano on Wednesday, a week after H5N1 was confirmed.
Wearing white overalls, masks, gloves and boots, they immediately went to an affected farm to help cull chickens.
Scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, which could trigger a global flu pandemic and kill millions of people.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/02/15/nigeria.bird.flu.reut/index.html

 

[Mellie]

U.N. bird flu experts discouraged from visiting Nigerian farms

U.N. bird flu experts discouraged from visiting Nigerian farms

U.N. bird flu experts discouraged from visiting Nigerian farms
Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:39 PM IST

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/ne...192526Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-236788-1.xml

By Daniel Flynn

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Authorities in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, where deadly bird flu is decimating chickens and endangering people, have discouraged U.N. experts from visiting poultry farms, one of them said.

Two experts from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have arrived in the capital of the state, where the deadly H5N1 strain was confirmed on Feb. 8 on two farms and more than 30 other farms are reporting mass poultry deaths.

"They (the Kano state authorities) said it was not feasible in terms of biosecurity," said Boubacar Seck, coordinator of the FAO West African Regional Project on Avian Influenza.

"I have my own protective suit and so do the members of the team ... but they said they didn't have enough for everybody," he told Reuters.

Shehu Bawa, head of the state monitoring committee on bird flu, said he did not know why the experts should not visit farms, while Ahmed Yusuf, permanent secretary in the state Agriculture Ministry declined to comment.

Federal authorities have ordered suspect farms to be quarantined, sick birds to be culled and transport or sale of birds from affected states to stop, but implementation has been slow in some places and has not happened at all in others.

In Kano, Reuters has visited farms where workers who were unaware of bird flu used their bare hands to throw sick and dead chickens onto fires as children watched. Chickens have also been dying in villages, where they mingle freely with people.

In health matters, Nigeria's 36 state governments have wide-ranging powers. The federal government is coordinating the response to bird flu with state governments.

FEDERAL TEAM ARRIVES

A 15-strong federal government team, equipped with protective kits and chemicals to fumigate infected areas, arrived in Kano on Wednesday, a week after H5N1 was confirmed, and said they were heading out to the countryside.

The head of the team said they would help with culling and decontamination in more than 20 farms.

The Nigerian outbreak of H5N1 is the first known appearance in Africa of the strain, which has killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East.

The virus, which can pass from birds to humans, poses a major health risk in Africa's most populous country, where chickens run free in millions of backyards and are carried live in public transport all the time.

No human case has been found so far. Detecting such a case will be difficult because mortality rates are high from other diseases and health services are almost non-existent in rural areas, where people are often buried without a medical check.

Scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, which could trigger a global flu pandemic and kill millions of people.

Lack of protective equipment has been one of the problems in the response to bird flu in Nigeria. The United States promised 2,000 sets of suits, gloves and masks and has already handed over 200 of them, but President Olusegun Obasanjo appealed on Tuesday for more help from abroad.

Seck said this was part of the needs he and his FAO colleague were trying to assess in Kano.

"How much protective clothing, how much disinfectant are needed in the area?" he said.

(additional reporting by Mike Oboh)

? Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
fair use for discussion purposes

 

[viamede]

The measures announced by Nigeria's government to contain the spread of bird flu are

The measures announced by Nigeria's government to contain the spread of bird flu are

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

The measures announced by Nigeria's government to contain the spread of bird flu are not working



BBC News:

Poultry are still being moved around despite an official quarantine, a senior official at the Food and Agriculture Organisation says.

Juan Lubroth also said the deadly H5N1 strain may have been found in nearby Niger - which denied the reports.

No human cases of bird flu have been found in Africa, although Nigeria chicken farmers are being screened.

Thousands of chickens have been dying in Nigeria for more than a month.

All four confirmed cases of bird flu have been linked to a single farm in northern Nigeria, said Agriculture Minister Adamu Bello.

None of the workers on the farm have shown any signs of illness.

The official in charge of the clean-up campaign has said that 40 farms around Kano city had reported suspicious bird deaths.

"The disease is spreading fast," he told the AFP news agency.

There have been numerous reports of chicken farmers rushing to sell their birds before officials cull them. They say the compensation offered by the government is too low.

"There is a restriction of movement for animals out of Kano and Kaduna states but on the ground it does not really seem to be holding," Mr Lubroth said.

But a Niger government spokesman denied that the H5N1 strain had been found across the border, with two dead roosters reportedly being tested.

"Until there is proof to the contrary, and we repeat this, there is no avian flu outbreak in Niger," said Mohamed ben Omar.

Experts with protective equipment are being flown into Nigeria from abroad to help local officials contain the spread of the disease.

Neighbouring countries have banned chicken imports from Nigeria.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a massive public education campaign to stop bird flu from spreading to humans in the country.

It is not clear how the virus has spread there. It was first found in South-East Asia and more recently Turkey and Russia.

Some experts blame illegal poultry imports; others migrating birds.

More than 80 people have died of H5N1 bird flu since the disease's resurgence in December 2003 - most of them in South-East Asia.

Experts point out that cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare and usually occurs where people have been in close contact with infected birds.

But they say if the H5N1 strain mutates so it can be passed between humans, it could become a global pandemic, killing millions.
http://moderntribalist.blogspot.com/2006/02/measures-announced-by-nigerias.html
​

 

[Theresa42]

Health workers begin avian flu testing in Nigeria

Health workers begin avian flu testing in Nigeria

Health workers begin avian flu testing in Nigeria
Updated Tue. Feb. 14 2006 10:04 AM ET
Associated Press

KADUNA, Nigeria ? Health workers offered to pay transport fares Tuesday to entice frightened workers of an avian flu infested Nigeria farm to a medical centre for checks to determine whether a deadly strain has jumped to humans in Africa.

The H5N1 strain was first reported in Africa last week after fowls died on a large commercial farm near Jaji, outside this northern city. Officials said Tuesday that checks a day earlier of 20 farm workers had not turned up any signs of the disease.

So far authorities were only checking for signs of infection because they lacked equipment to test blood samples - underscoring the difficulties of identifying and containing the deadly bird flu strain in Africa's most-populous country.

Julius Gajere, the doctor running the Jaji tests, said some 140 farm workers had not been located as tests began Monday as many workers were likely fearful of the tests and what might become of them if results showed they were ill with bird flu.

"We have offered to pay their fares to and from the test centre and expect a better response today," Gajere said.

Health officials fear H5N1 could evolve into a virus that can be transmitted easily between people and become a pandemic. Most human cases of the disease so far have been linked to contact with infected birds.

H5N1 has killed at least 88 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, but no human cases have been confirmed in Africa so far.

On Sunday, samples taken from a Nigerian family with two sick children suspected of contracting bird flu were sent abroad for testing, said Abdulsalam Nasidi, a federal Health Ministry official who visited them Sunday.

Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo and another top health official told reporters on Monday they feared the H5N1 virus may have spread to five new states: Abuja, where the capital is located; Katsina, Nasarawa, Yobe and Jigawa.

If the cases are confirmed, they would bring the number of states affected to eight of Nigeria's 36. It has been confirmed in three northern states - Kaduna, Kano and Plateau.

Barry Schoub, executive director of South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said the virus probably has spread over a much more extensive area in Nigeria and that he expected to see large-scale destruction of birds there.

"The Nigeria case is very, very concerning because the spread in poultry appears to have been going on for quite some time and may well be more extensive," Schoub told reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"So you would have an established, infected poultry population to which the human population is exposed and that population gets quite extensive exposure to poultry."

He said destroying birds was the most effective way to stop the spread of the infection in developing countries which did not have facilities such as those in Europe, where poultry is being kept indoors to avoid contact with water infected by migrating wild birds.

Experts from the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in Nigeria to help, along with other officials from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Nigerian officials have tried to contain the disease by burning chickens and other birds suspected of being infected across the north.

But poultry markets continue to operate and birds are being shipped around the country despite international recommendations to stop those practices.

Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest countries, banned all poultry imports Tuesday and called on citizens to report any suspicious bird deaths.

Many other west African countries have also taken measures to try to prevent H5N1 from taking root on their soil, but none have the means or infrastructure to deal with a massive public health crisis.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...an_nigeria_060214/20060214?hub=Health&s_name=

 

[Theresa42]

Nigeria not ready for bird flu

Nigeria not ready for bird flu

Nigeria not ready for bird flu
Published: 16-FEB-06
By Ade Obisesan

LAGOS - Nigeria is almost completely unprepared to face an epidemic of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the former president of the country's Red Cross, who is also a major poultry farmer, has said. [Gov't ministers, heads of NGOs...all poultry farmers...?]

Emmanuel Ijewere, who recently retired as head of the emergency health agency, said that Nigeria had failed to heed the danger after earlier avian flu outbreaks in Asia, where dozens of people have died since 2003.

"We are now beginning to tackle the problem after it has happened. There was no structured arrangement that was in place in Nigeria to deal with it," he said at his Lagos office.

"There has been talk about avian flu in other parts of the world such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia but we did not really address the issue," he said.

"To prepare for a disaster is to imagine disaster, think about it, simulate it, worry about it and put things and systems in place to ensure you are able to react to it, but this right attitude is lacking among Nigerians."

Last week United Nations scientists revealed that a month-old outbreak of sickness among chickens at a commercial battery farm in the north of Nigeria was Africa's first confirmed case of the deadly H5N1 virus.

Since then, clean up teams have visited more than a dozen farms to kill, burn and bury tens of thousands of birds thought to be infected with the disease.

International experts have arrived to help contain its spread.

However, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has complained that Nigeria has failed to close down poultry markets and prevent the movement of flocks in the affected areas, while reports indicate the virus is spreading quickly.

"Nigeria is not prepared because it lacks disaster preparedness and management," said Ijewere, whose Red Cross workers and volunteers responded to dozens of large-scale disasters across Nigeria in recent years.

President Olusegun Obasanjo was to meet later Wednesday with international donor agencies to appeal for more support in tackling the outbreak, and the country's health minister has asked for 250,000 doses of the flu drug Tamiflu.

Since the outbreak was confirmed in Kaduna, 300 kilometres north of Abuja, suspect bird deaths have been reported in seven more states as far afield as the capital and Nigeria's northern border with Niger.

Now, experts fear that the disease will spread southwest towards Lagos and one of Africa's most densely populated regions.

While many households keep small numbers of hens for eggs and personal consumption, the southwest is also home to several huge agricultural concerns, including Obsasanjo's own Ota farm and the one run by Ijewere.

The former Red Cross head is a chartered accountant who also trained in a poultry farm institute in Rustenberg, near Johannesburg in South Africa.

His farm was established in 2001 and has about 2,500 cows, around 200,000 birds and 800 pigs.

Some 180 "out growers" or small-holders supply the farm's warehouses and 50 cows are slaughtered for sale on the farm daily, he said.

Despite his pessimism about Nigeria's ability to respond to the outbreak, which health workers fear could soon infect humans, Ijewere said he felt the country had "not been totally unlucky" so far in the spread of infection.

The virus must have been imported into Nigeria by migratory birds, he said.

"Nature is such that no government can place a ban on a bird flying on your territory," he added, and urged Nigerians not to panic, but to make sure they cook all poultry thoroughly before eating them.

Sapa-AFP

http://www.businessinafrica.net/news_in_brief/all/706051.htm

 

[viamede]

Bird Flu: Fears Over Spread to Humans

Bird Flu: Fears Over Spread to Humans

Bird Flu: Fears Over Spread to Humans

Daily Champion (Lagos)
NEWS
February 16, 2006 </B>
Posted to the web February 16, 2006
Lagos

DESPITE efforts by Federal Government and United Nation (UN) Agencies to curb spread of avian influenza (bird flu), there are strong indications that the disease may have infected people in the country. Fears that the virus has invaded some patients particularly in the North, where the first case was recorded, peaked last Sunday when officials of Federal Ministry of Health, waited for test results on two children.

When confirmed, the two patients would be the first Africans infected with the deadly H5NI bird flu virus.

Since the out break, in poultry farms in Kaduna, federal government has imposed a quarantine on the affected farms. Champion Health Forum learnt farms in affected areas recorded increased poultry deaths, thus leading to fears that the virus may be widespread.
Meanwhile teams of experts from Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) arrived the country Sunday to provide technical assistance to government in order to battle the epidemic.

Experts fear that the highly pathogenic H5NI strain may "mutate into a form that can spread from human to human and cause a global flu pandemic that could kill millions.

WHO's epidemologist Global Influenza program Dr. Michael Perdue at a media briefing in Geneva, Switzerland weekend said, "We are concerned that this particular strain H5NI has moved from Asia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, Iraq to Nigeria."

We don't know presently the risk of the virus infecting humans in Africa, but we are concerned that the virus has infected and killed some birds in the continent," Perdue said.

According to the WHO official, there is anecdotal evidence of outbreak in birds in Kaduna, and Kano. He maintained that "thus far we have no evidence of any human infections but it represents a fear that this virus is being carried by amigratory water fowl."
Earlier, as stated in a release, Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO's co-ordinator of the polio Eradication Initiative confirmed that Nigeria's case is the "second country, where we are tackling avian flu and polio," the first being Indonesia last year.

Hear him. "There has been great concern about what happens when this disease gets into areas with a very weak infrastructure-sub-Saharan Africa and South-Asia-but in fact we have a much stronger infrastructure surveillance-wise that many countries already infected by the strain."

According to him, there are about 450 people including nationals and international on ground through the polio infrastructure.
Understandably, government his launched a massive communication plan to raise community awareness as to risks posed by infected sick or dead fowl, particularly in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau States.

"The critical thing at this point in the Avian flu," the WHO officials said "is to prevent human exposure to the virus in order to prevent human cases, if they have not already occurred.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602160150.html

 

[DB]

Re: Bird Flu: Fears Over Spread to Humans

Re: Bird Flu: Fears Over Spread to Humans

Hmmmm, Iraq to Nigeria.

So doesn't that mean that every country in between Iraq and Nigeria also has bird flu?

How in the world did those countries get missed?

I don't think they did.

But I guess if you don't report it, it doesn't exist.

 

[viamede]

NIGER: Dead birds raise fears of bird flu

NIGER: Dead birds raise fears of bird flu

NIGER: Dead birds raise fears of bird flu

? Dulue Mbachu/IRIN​

Niger is working to block import of chickens from northern Nigeria
NIAMEY, 16 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - The death of at least 400 chickens, turkeys and geese in Niger ? which shares a 1,500-kilometre border with bird-flu-infected Nigeria ? has government officials scurrying to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

Niger authorities banned the importation of all poultry and poultry products, reinforced border patrols and launched a public awareness campaign, after the H5N1 virus was confirmed in Nigeria. The discovery of the dead birds near the town of Magaria in Niger?s southern Zinder region days later prompted the government to reinforce its efforts and ask for international help with testing for the virus.

?The government has asked FAO [UN Food and Agriculture Organisation] to send its experts currently in Chad and Nigeria to Magaria before the end of the week,? said Amadou Bare, secretary general of the animal resources ministry. Niger wants the experts to send bird samples to the UK for testing.

On Wednesday Niger's national committee for the fight against bird flu announced it has drawn up a 2.2-billion CFA franc (US $3.9 million) emergency programme it will submit to the government. Like many African countries, in order to finance its fight against the virus Niger will have to turn to the international community.

A UN World Health Organisation (WHO) official said the agency is ready to help. ?We will join Niger in working to mobilise resources to put this plan into action,? Gagara Magagi, WHO representative in Niger, said during a discussion broadcast on national television and radio on Wednesday. ?There are many partners who are ready to finance the fight against this disease.?

In addition to the bird remains found in the southern Zinder region, on Tuesday some dead swallows were found in the town of Garanke Day in Dosso, just 150 kilometres from the capital, Niamey, according to sources in Dosso.

The H5N1 virus was confirmed 8 February in northern Nigeria, where at least three of 36 states have now seen cases of infection ? two of which share borders with Niger.

Since Niger authorities placed joint military and technical squads along the border with Nigeria last week, the remains of several imported chickens have been confiscated.

A local radio station in Konni ? a town about 400 kilometres east of Niamey and near the Nigerian border ? announced on Wednesday that the patrol teams had seized chickens originating from Nigeria and incinerated them.

The Niger government has given strict instructions to regional authorities in Maradi, Tahou and Zinder regions to apprehend anyone trying to bring poultry or poultry products in from Nigeria.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51763&SelectRegion=West_Africa&SelectCountry=NIGER

 

[Mellie]

Niger draws up bird flu plan

Niger draws up bird flu plan

Niger draws up bird flu plan

http://www.businessinafrica.net/news_in_brief/all/713357.htm

Published: 17-FEB-06


NIAMEY - Authorities in Niger announced a bird flu state of alert and an emergency plan to fund monitoring of the border with Nigeria, where the H5N1 strain of the virus that can kill humans has been detected.

A team of experts has gone to collect samples for analysis from several hundred dead poultry in a region near the border, Seini Aboucacar of the west African country's crisis committee on the disease said on television.

"The emergency plan costed at 2.2 billion CFA francs (3.4 million euros) will be put to the cabinet at the end of the week with a view to swift implementation," Aboucacar said.

The regions most concerned by the state of alert are those including the southern towns of Zinder and Maradi and the southern central Birnin-Konni area, where local people engage in the bulk of Niger's daily trade across a long border with northern Nigeria, the doctor added.

A state of maximum alert, corresponding to Phase II of a six-point scale used by the World Health Organisation (WHO), was issued when international authorities early this month confirmed the appearance of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu among domestic poultry on the Nigerian side of the border, Aboucacar said.

The H5N1 strain of the flu has killed at least 90 people mostly in southeast Asia and China where it first erupted, but also in Turkey and northern Iraq, and the fear is that the virus will mutate to a type directly transmissible among humans.

The government of the largely arid sub-Saharan country said experts had been sent to the Maragia administrative zone in the Zinder region to take samples from several hundred dead poultry found there.

Niger has habitually imported the bulk of its poultry and eggs across the poorly guarded 1,500-kilometre frontier.

Its second city, Zinder, and its economic capital, Maradi, are near Nigeria's Kano state, an affected area.

All imports were banned on February 9, but local people have said produce is still crossing the border.

Nigerian farmers, whose poultry is being culled in steps taken by the Abuja government when the disease first appeared in Africa, have been trying to sell off their dead chicken cheaply.

"We've registered the deaths of nearly 400 poultry at Magaria, and a team of veterinary experts has gone to investigate, so samples will be taken for analysis in Europe," Aboucacar said.

"The results of these tests won't be known for at least two weeks, and we're not standing by with arms folded and shall take measures to make the population aware of the issue.

"In the event that centres of avian influenza appear in our country, the government undertakes to compensate potential victims of the mass culling of their poultry flocks," he added.

The emergency plan for which funds have been announced is a 12-month scheme, but authorities will also draw up a "strategic national plan" to combat or prevent the influx of bird flu over "the next three to five years", Aboucacar said.

Sapa-AFP

 

[DB]

4000 Chicken, Pigeons, Die in Potiskum

4000 Chicken, Pigeons, Die in Potiskum

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602170206.html

4000 Chicken, Pigeons, Die in Potiskum

About four thousand chickens, pigeons, guinea fowl and turkey suspected to have been affected by the bird flu virus, have so far been found dead in different parts of Potiskum in Yobe state, Daily Trust has gathered.
The Yobe state commissioner for Animal and Fisheries Development, Mohammed Jabo Ibrahim, confirmed to Daily Trust on Wednesday that some three thousand five hundred and fifty chickens have been reported dead in one Sadiya farms located in Potiskum, noting that the affected birds have so far been buried while samples have been forwarded for confirmation tests in Jos.
Our correspondent reports that aside from the case in Sadiya Farm, many residents of various parts of Potiskum also claimed that they had their children and other birds dead.
Mallam Salleh, a popular dealer in birds located at Gongola area of Yindiski ward in Potiskum, narrated that so far, one hundred of his chickens, 57 turkey and some guinea fowls have all died enmass.
Other residents who spoke on the incident, recalled that since the last one month, there have been recurring cases of pigeons dropping dead in large numbers, but rather than relating the situation to any diseases, it was assumed, that the pigeons were either poisoned or killed ritually by some farmers whose farm produce may have been trespassed by the pigeons.
But some of the residents said the development became alarming when local chickens in different households began to die consistently, while owners slaughtered some of them ignorant of anything called bird flu.
The situation, according to investigations has thrown residents of the town into fear, even though some them had taken the advantage of the epidemic, to purchase chickens for as low as two hundred naira in different parts of Potiskum, while many others simply avoid chickens for fear of being infected.
But the commissioner for Animal and Fisheries Development, said there is no cause for alarm since he noted that the Yobe government has set out a team of experts to assess the situation and proffer urgent solutions.
Ibrahim said that some chickens in Sadoyat Farms which were feared infected have been killed in an effort to curtail further spread of the deaths of birds in Potiskum.
The commissioner said in other to further address the situation, it is very important that hunters across the state immediately stop going after migrating birds especially in the wetlands noting that such birds pose great danger to the control of the diseases.

He noted however, that it may not be accurate to say that there is bird flu in Yobe state since the test results on the dead chickens have not been made public.
Some newspaper reports at the weekend, reported that the bird flu virus has spread to some parts of Yobe state.

 

[DB]

Niger: Dead Birds Raise Fears of Bird Flu

Niger: Dead Birds Raise Fears of Bird Flu

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602170001.html

The death of at least 400 chickens, turkeys and geese in Niger - which shares a 1,500-kilometre border with bird-flu-infected Nigeria - has government officials scurrying to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

Niger authorities banned the importation of all poultry and poultry products, reinforced border patrols and launched a public awareness campaign, after the H5N1 virus was confirmed in Nigeria. The discovery of the dead birds near the town of Magaria in Niger's southern Zinder region days later prompted the government to reinforce its efforts and ask for international help with testing for the virus.

"The government has asked FAO [UN Food and Agriculture Organisation] to send its experts currently in Chad and Nigeria to Magaria before the end of the week," said Amadou Bare, secretary general of the animal resources ministry. Niger wants the experts to send bird samples to the UK for testing.

On Wednesday Niger's national committee for the fight against bird flu announced it has drawn up a 2.2-billion CFA franc (US $3.9 million) emergency programme it will submit to the government. Like many African countries, in order to finance its fight against the virus Niger will have to turn to the international community.

A UN World Health Organisation (WHO) official said the agency is ready to help. "We will join Niger in working to mobilise resources to put this plan into action," Gagara Magagi, WHO representative in Niger, said during a discussion broadcast on national television and radio on Wednesday. "There are many partners who are ready to finance the fight against this disease."

In addition to the bird remains found in the southern Zinder region, on Tuesday some dead swallows were found in the town of Garanke Day in Dosso, just 150 kilometres from the capital, Niamey, according to sources in Dosso.

The H5N1 virus was confirmed 8 February in northern Nigeria, where at least three of 36 states have now seen cases of infection - two of which share borders with Niger.

Since Niger authorities placed joint military and technical squads along the border with Nigeria last week, the remains of several imported chickens have been confiscated.

A local radio station in Konni - a town about 400 kilometres east of Niamey and near the Nigerian border - announced on Wednesday that the patrol teams had seized chickens originating from Nigeria and incinerated them.


The Niger government has given strict instructions to regional authorities in Maradi, Tahou and Zinder regions to apprehend anyone trying to bring poultry or poultry products in from Nigeria.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]

 

[DB]

Re: Niger: Dead Birds Raise Fears of Bird Flu

Re: Niger: Dead Birds Raise Fears of Bird Flu

This report confirms that Niger has Bird Flu.

 

[ukcz]

Re: Niger: Dead Birds Raise Fears of Bird Flu

Re: Niger: Dead Birds Raise Fears of Bird Flu

Ghana next?

 

[Theresa42]

Aviary influenza in Nigeria: four new identified hearths

Aviary influenza in Nigeria: four new identified hearths

babelfished from French:

Aviary influenza in Nigeria: four new identified hearths
Le lundi 20 f?vrier 2006

The government Nigerian confirmed Monday the presence of mortal virus H5N1 of the aviary influenza in three new States of the federation like in the federal capital Abuja, changing to seven the number of hearths of this epizooty.

These three new States are Bauchi, Zamfara, Katsina and the Territory of the federal capital (FCT) Abuja, indicated to the press the Minister for Information, Frank Nweke.

"The results of the tests with Bauchi confirmed our suspicions which the aviary influenza is there", the minister declared specifying that the H5N1 was also localised with Abuja "where the test carried out on taking away of birds found dead (...) proved to be positive".

In revenge(addition?) the tests carried out in the States d' Abia, Edo, Rivers, Anambra, in the south and of Niger, Sokoto and Nassarawa in north "gave negative results", added the minister.

Since the official advertisement on February 8 of the presence of the H5N1 in the north of Nigeria, one month after the taking away makes on died birds, tens of thousands of poultries died, was cut down, then incinerated and buried to try to circumscribe the disease.

But they are not that ten days after the official advertisement that the government lined up with the pressing recommendations of the international experts by prohibiting the poultry movements in four States of north where the aviary presence of influenza was confirmed or strongly suspect?e.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060220/CPACTUALITES/602201406/5165/CPACTUALITES

 

[Mellie]

This Day (Lago, Nigeria)

This Day (Lago, Nigeria)

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602210852.html

Bird Flu Spreads to Abuja, Zamfara, Katsina
This Day (Lagos)

February 20, 2006
Posted to the web February 21, 2006

Josephine Lohor
Abuja

The Federal Government has announced that the Bird Flu has been detected in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Minister for Information and National Orientation, Frank Nweke, who said this yesterday, also stated that the Presidential Committee on the Prevention and Management of Avian Flu has taken delivery of the drug currently being used to manage the flu amongst humans, in countries where the flu had occurred.

Nweke, while re-affirming the determination of the Federal Government to curtail the spread and effects of the Bird Flu, told newsmen that in spite of the new outbreaks, the infection has remained localised within the earlier identified states of Plateau, Kaduna, Kano and Bauchi, adding that multi-agency surveillance teams put up by government has visited Abia, Edo, Rivers, Niger, Anambra, Sokoto and Nasarawa states where samples taken tested negative.

According to him, "extensive diagnostic tests have been conducted and are on-going amongst poultry workers nationwide, to date, no human cases have been recorded in Nigeria," Nweke said.

He said the presidential committee on the flu has ordered immediate stamping out of all birds in the affected farms, and commended state governments that have set up similar committees, and offered to assist in augmenting compensation to be paid to affected farmers in their states.

According to Nweke, "the Committee wishes to commend state governments who have established task forces to manage the crisis within their respective states and hereby call on states yet to do this to immediately do so, even if the flu has not been isolated within their states."

 

[Mellie]

...no Cause for Alarm, Tourists Assured (Lagos, Nigeria)

...no Cause for Alarm, Tourists Assured (Lagos, Nigeria)

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602210899.html

...no Cause for Alarm, Tourists Assured
This Day (Lagos)

February 20, 2006
Posted to the web February 21, 2006

Chuka Odittah
Abuja

Following recent discovery of Avian Flu (Bird Flu) in Kaduna, Kano, and some neighbouring states in the northern region, Director General, National Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Dr Joseph Eboreime, has urged tourists and other international travellers with business intent not to be deterred from visiting the country on account of bird flu, saying the outbreak is local and well under control by international and home-based health experts.

Eboreime said this at the weekend in Abuja, adding that already, the Federal Government Emergency Preparedness Committee on bird flu, in conjunction with World Health Organisation (WHO) experts and other global agencies are currently partnering to ensure extermination of the flu.

He said as a matter of first recourse, the Federal Government has odered the immediate destruction of all live- stock in the affected states, while movement of poultry products have also been quarantined fully until further directives.

He said governments in the affected states have in collaboration with WHO and departments of Livestock in the Agriculture Ministry, set up a full scale action to curtail spread to other parts.

"Let me add here with all sincerity, that tourists and travellers into Nigeria are not in any way at risk of any infection whatsoever of bird flu.

"The Federal Government decided to make the bird flu issue public, upon realisation that the bird flu phenomenon is a global issue which requires concerted effort to curb. Not because we are overwhelmed by it. In fact, high- powered collaborations are taking place between Nigerian public authorities and foreign experts, to ensure its immediate suppression," he said.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: ...no Cause for Alarm, Tourists Assured (Lagos, Nigeria)

Re: ...no Cause for Alarm, Tourists Assured (Lagos, Nigeria)

He said as a matter of first recourse, the Federal Government has odered the immediate destruction of all live- stock in the affected states, while movement of poultry products have also been quarantined fully until further directives.

The destruction of all livestock!!!
Why is this neccessary, are there lots of sick/dead animals?
Replacing these animals will take a long time and be very expensive in comparison to replacing poultry.

 

[Mellie]

Re: This Day (Lago, Nigeria)

Re: This Day (Lago, Nigeria)

I think they mean all bird livestock, at least I hope so.

 

[Mellie]

Suspect Fatality in Nigeria

Suspect Fatality in Nigeria

Suspect Fatality in Nigeria
WHO Update <hr size="1" style="color: rgb(209, 209, 225);"><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> Avian influenza - situation in Nigeria - update

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_22/en/index.html

22 February 2006

The outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, confirmed at a commercial farm in Kaduna State on 8 February, has now spread to commercial farms in several other contiguous states. No human cases have been detected to date.

Nigerian officials have confirmed outbreaks at commercial farms in the states of Kano, Plateau, Katsina, and Bauchi, and in the Abuja area. Outbreaks have also been detected at more farms in Kaduna. Outbreaks in additional states are currently under investigation.

To date, four patients with respiratory symptoms and a history of exposure to diseased poultry have been investigated for possible infection. This number includes a woman who died of an acute respiratory illness on 16 February. The three remaining patients are all in good condition.

Arrangements are being made to send samples from all four patients for testing at a WHO collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom.

The initial outbreak in Kaduna state is now known to have begun on 10 January, raising the possibility that earlier human exposures and cases may have occurred in that area and elsewhere. At hospitals in Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina near affected farms, staff from the WHO-led teams have now examined hundreds of patient records, searching for possible cases that may have occurred earlier. No such cases have been identified to date.

The scale of the outbreak in birds is not yet fully understood. Most investigations have followed poultry deaths on large commercial farms, where outbreaks are highly visible. Little is known about the presence of the virus in small backyard flocks, where the greatest risk of human exposures and infections resides.

Nigeria has an estimated poultry population of around 140 million birds, largely concentrated in the south-western part of the country. As is the case in several affected parts of South-east Asia, around 60% of Nigeria?s poultry production takes place in small backyard flocks. Large-scale commercial farming of poultry occurs mainly in the northern states, where outbreaks have been confirmed.

Rapid spread of the virus within Nigeria has raised concern over possible spread to neighbouring countries. Borders are porous and restrictions on the movement of people and poultry are difficult to enforce. WHO staff at offices in these countries are monitoring the situation closely in collaboration with government officials. Rumours of possible human cases in neighbouring countries are also being closely monitored.
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