Bird flu suspected in five more northern states

Health authorities in Nigeria began investigations into possible cases of bird flu in five more northern states on Tuesday as international aid and experts arrived to fight the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus. Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo said tests are being conducted on samples taken from poultry in Nasarawa and Niger states near the Nigerian capital Abuja, as well as in Katsina, Yobe and Jigawa states near the frontier with northern neighbour Niger Republic. "If confirmed, the new cases will show that the first outbreak of the H5N1 disease in Africa has now spread through most of the north of the country and entered the Niger River Basin," Lambo told reporters in Abuja. The H5N1 virus can jump to humans, with fatal consequences most recently in China, Turkey and Iraq, according to the World Health Organisation. Experts are concerned that the virus could mutate and pass from human to human, causing a worldwide pandemic. Africa's first cases of the virus were confirmed last week in poultry farms in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau states. So far the cases have been restricted to the country's north but there are fears the virus may have been spreading for some time before the discovery and could emerge in the heavily populated southwest, also Nigeria's main poultry farming region, with devastating health and economic consequences. International health experts from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have begun arriving in Nigeria to help authorities halt the spread of the virus. In addition to US $25 million pledged by the United States, the International Finance Corporation - the private lending arm of the World Bank - has also announced a US $50 million concessionary facility to help Nigeria deal with the bird flu emergency. "This is an emergency so we have simplified the draw down procedures," Hafeez Ghanem, the World Bank country director for Nigeria said on Monday. "The money is available and we are working with the ministries of health and agriculture as well as other development partners to see how quickly this epidemic can be curtailed." Health workers in Kaduna State on Tuesday continued medical checks for signs of bird flu infection among employees of Sambawa Farms in the Jaji district of the state where the virus was first confirmed last week. Many workers from the surrounding villages, who had kept away from the tests on Monday fearing they might be detained if confirmed to be infected, turned up on Tuesday after health officials offered to pay their transport fares. But doctors who examined them said none had so far presented any signs of infection but added that more detailed medical investigations will be carried out as soon as the WHO team arrives with special kits for analysing blood samples. For more information on Africa's response to bird flu, click HERE