May 3, 2007

WHO official confirms Ghana's first H5N1 bird flu case

The first case of the H5N1 bird flu strain in Ghana has been confirmed by a laboratory in Egypt, a World Health Organization official said Wednesday (May 2).

Sophia Twum-Barimah, a WHO spokeswoman in Ghana's capital, Accra, said the virus was first detected by a Ghanian lab and then confirmed by the Egyptian research centre.

Earlier this week, Ghanaian officials said they were investigating a suspected outbreak of the disease in birds around the eastern port city of Tema.