Poultry cull in city markets after bird flu outbreaks

Health and government officials in Cote d'Ivoire have announced a range of measures to stamp out bird flu after the discovery of at least three outbreaks in the main city Abidjan.

Minister of Animal Production and Fish Resources, Alphonse Douaty, said on Friday that veterinarians are to cull all poultry in markets through the city as the government prepares a system for reimbursement.

"We want to have a sanitary vacuum at these markets," Douaty said.

The ministry was also planning to inspect industrial poultry farms and issue a stamp of approval to reassure costumers. The city’s four million people will be able to call a free hotline.

Douaty said the government needed at least 6 billion CFA, or 11 million dollars, to compensate poultry farmers and combat the disease.

The first cases of bird flu were reported on 26 April by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), but the Ivorian government issued official confirmation just this week.

The latest of the three outbreaks was found in domestically kept chickens in the populous suburb of Yopougon, according to Daouda Coulibaly of the National Institute for Public Hygiene.

Coulibaly said several people in the area were being monitored for potential human infections of the H5N1 avian virus.