Emergency Measures to Curb Bird Flu Outbreak
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
JEDDAH, 7 March 2007 ? Saudi authorities have declared an emergency aimed at preventing an outbreak of bird flu in the country after 52 cases of the infectious illness were reported in neighboring Kuwait, according to Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Sheiha, assistant deputy agriculture minister for animal resources affairs.
?The Ministry of Agriculture is naturally in a state of emergency to confront this disease,? said Sheiha. ?We have taken all precautions against bird flu and set up an operations room that works round the clock,? he added. He said no suspected bird flu cases have so far been reported in the Kingdom.
The Saudi official?s assurance came as a team of experts from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) arrived in Kuwait where authorities said yesterday that the number of bird flu cases in the emirate had risen to 52. ?Two new cases of the H5N1 deadly strain were detected in a falcon and a chicken that were found dead in two new locations,? Kuwaiti Health Ministry spokesman Ahmad Al-Shatti said.
The H5N1 strain, the most aggressive form, has killed more than 160 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and has been responsible for the destruction of millions of birds.
Sheiha said the ministry had requested additional financial allocations to carry out further precautionary measures. ?We have allocated SR15 million for the purpose,? he added.
The ministry has carried out mock operations at a number of poultry farms in various parts of the country including Riyadh, Asir, Baha, the Eastern Province, Qasim and others.
?We are in close contact with OIE officials who monitor the movement of the contagious disease. We have also conducted a survey of poultry farms across the country and are monitoring migratory birds which pass through the Kingdom. We have taken measures to contain the disease in case of any outbreak.?
The Kuwaiti official said the cases were found in 32 locations in the emirate. He reiterated that no case of bird flu in humans had been found so far after testing 268 samples from people who had been in contact with the infected birds.
The OIE team arrived late Monday and is expected to spend several days in Kuwait to help combat the disease.
The emirate has stepped up measures to fight the outbreak by slapping a total ban on the import and export of birds, closing down bird markets and shutting the only zoo where one case of an infected falcon was detected.
Kuwaiti spokesman Shatti said that some 65 teams of specialists were working to fumigate thousands of poultry farms around the country. He stressed, however, that all infected cases detected so far had been found in houses and small farms.
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
JEDDAH, 7 March 2007 ? Saudi authorities have declared an emergency aimed at preventing an outbreak of bird flu in the country after 52 cases of the infectious illness were reported in neighboring Kuwait, according to Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Sheiha, assistant deputy agriculture minister for animal resources affairs.
?The Ministry of Agriculture is naturally in a state of emergency to confront this disease,? said Sheiha. ?We have taken all precautions against bird flu and set up an operations room that works round the clock,? he added. He said no suspected bird flu cases have so far been reported in the Kingdom.
The Saudi official?s assurance came as a team of experts from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) arrived in Kuwait where authorities said yesterday that the number of bird flu cases in the emirate had risen to 52. ?Two new cases of the H5N1 deadly strain were detected in a falcon and a chicken that were found dead in two new locations,? Kuwaiti Health Ministry spokesman Ahmad Al-Shatti said.
The H5N1 strain, the most aggressive form, has killed more than 160 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and has been responsible for the destruction of millions of birds.
Sheiha said the ministry had requested additional financial allocations to carry out further precautionary measures. ?We have allocated SR15 million for the purpose,? he added.
The ministry has carried out mock operations at a number of poultry farms in various parts of the country including Riyadh, Asir, Baha, the Eastern Province, Qasim and others.
?We are in close contact with OIE officials who monitor the movement of the contagious disease. We have also conducted a survey of poultry farms across the country and are monitoring migratory birds which pass through the Kingdom. We have taken measures to contain the disease in case of any outbreak.?
The Kuwaiti official said the cases were found in 32 locations in the emirate. He reiterated that no case of bird flu in humans had been found so far after testing 268 samples from people who had been in contact with the infected birds.
The OIE team arrived late Monday and is expected to spend several days in Kuwait to help combat the disease.
The emirate has stepped up measures to fight the outbreak by slapping a total ban on the import and export of birds, closing down bird markets and shutting the only zoo where one case of an infected falcon was detected.
Kuwaiti spokesman Shatti said that some 65 teams of specialists were working to fumigate thousands of poultry farms around the country. He stressed, however, that all infected cases detected so far had been found in houses and small farms.