February 13, 2006

 

Foreign experts help Nigeria combat bird flu
 

 

Foreign experts have arrived in Nigeria to help combat Africa's first known outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu as health officials investigate whether two sick children have caught the disease, officials said Sunday.

 

A team of experts from the US-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention arrived late Saturday in the Nigerian capital Abuja, carrying with them protective clothing for 200 Nigerian health officials who will be culling birds, said Agriculture Minister Adamu Bello.

 

They were joined by a senior regional official for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Sunday. More FAO and World Health Organization officials are expected to arrive in Nigeria later Sunday and they will draw up their plan of action after discussions with authorities.

 

Two children have been reported ill near a farm in Kaduna, where the H5N1

strain was first detected among poultry last Wednesday, said Lola Sadiq, a bird flu expert with the World Health Organization. No human cases have been confirmed so far.

 

Federal government and regional health officials say they will screen people who have worked on farms hit by bird flu.

 

The virus has been confirmed at a total of five farms in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau states, killing at least 100,000 birds. Twenty-two other farms may also have been infected in Kano and Kaduna, according to the government.

 

Authorities fanned out across commercial poultry farms to cull chickens.

in an effort to contain the disease,

 

Affected farms have been ordered into quarantine for 12 months, said the agriculture minister.

 

UN's bird flu chief, David Nabarro, said the disease's arrival in Nigeria should be "a strong wake-up call" to all countries. He said its spread to Europe and Africa had increased chances the virus will mutate and cause a pandemic among humans.

 

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

 

However, the government have not acted on international recommendations to shut poultry markets and stop the shipping of domestic birds around the country.

 

In Kaduna city, prices for chickens had fallen by a third as many people shunned poultry markets.

 

"People are not buying, but this is our business," said chicken seller Adamu Yusuf. "We are trying to see if we can make some money to meet our needs."