Bird flu confirmed in five states and the capital

Tests have confirmed the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus – also fatal in humans – has now infected poultry in five contiguous Nigerian states and the federal capital, Abuja, according to the government.

Information Minister Frank Nweke confirmed in a statement on Monday that the northern states of Katsina and Zamfara and Abuja in the centre of the country are the latest to have confirmed cases of bird flu.

Africa’s first cases of the virus were detected on 8 February in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna and two days later the virus was seen in the neighbouring states of Kano and Plateau.

In addition to the five states where H5N1 has been confirmed, large-scale bird deaths have been reported in at least three other northern states, but tests there to date have not identified bird flu.

International experts fear the H5N1 virus, which has killed scores of people in Asia, could evolve into a strain transmissible between humans, triggering a global pandemic. Nigerian officials say so far no human cases of the virus have been detected in Africa’s most populous country of more than 126 million people. “Extensive diagnostic tests have been conducted and are ongoing among poultry workers nationwide and to date no human cases have been recorded in Nigeria,” Nweke said.

However, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), communities who live in close quarters with domestic poultry are most at risk of contracting H5N1. “To date, most human cases have occurred in rural or periurban areas where many households keep small poultry flocks, which often roam freely, sometimes entering homes or sharing outdoor areas where children play,” WHO says on its website.

Information Minister Nweke says Nigeria has imported large quantities of Tamiflu, the drug currently used for the treatment of H5N1 infection in humans.

Across Africa there is concern the virus could spread to other countries, devastating the poultry industry and potentially endangering humans.

The regional economic body ECOWAS said in a statement on Monday it has set up an emergency committee to provide assistance to West African countries to prevent the spread of the virus from Nigeria to neighbouring nations.

In the event of bird flu spreading to other countries in the region, ECOWAS will assist authorities to ensure that all affected birds are culled with the method prescribed by the World Organisation for Animal Health. It will also work to see that all workers in poultry farms are screened for the virus.

ECOWAS also recommends that adequate compensation be paid to poultry farmers who lose their birds.

In Nigeria teams of international experts from UN agencies and the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are working with local health and veterinary officials to exterminate birds in suspect farms, while conducting tests on birds and humans to detect and control the spread of the virus.