Bird sales plummet but bird flu awareness poor

Two days after three cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain were officially confirmed 12 kilometres from the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou, bird sales have plummeted but the widespread culling, containment and vaccination measures necessary to prevent the disease from spreading have not started. Residents of the immediately affected 23-village Saaba district and the capital Ouagadougou learned about the virus by word-of-mouth and the media. However according to Madi Compaore, the president of the medical centre closest to the outbreak in the Saaba district, although many people understand their birds may die, they still do not realise the potential for human infection. “Many people don’t understand what bird flu is and how serious it can be - they think it is just like the other animal diseases. They don’t realize that if they are not very careful there is the possibility that this disease could be transmitted to humans,” he told IRIN. Compaore confirmed that there has been no formal bird flu education in the region. Jeanne Ouedraogo, a government officer who learned about bird flu from the newspapers, said: “I have avoided eating poultry just as a simple precaution. I don’t know much about the illness so I will stop eating chicken until there is a new instruction.” According to World Health Organisation guidelines so long as poultry and eggs are properly cooked they do not pose a risk to health. Transmission is caused by proximity to diseased birds. Culling not yet started Although consumption has cut, in contrast with the mass cullings that have taken place in Europe there has been no sign of a systematic attempt to kill birds, impose hygiene measures, or change the level of exposure to birds in Burkina Faso. The markets are still full and the backyard smallholdings which are common in the region have not been regulated. The government has been promising an intensive response against bird flu since Monday, when the Minister of Animal Resources Toemoko Konate first announced the outbreak. It has broadcast news of the outbreak on radio and television, and quarantined and disinfected the campsite where the initial deaths among domestic guinea fowl occurred. An international delegation from the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Organisation of Animal Health arrived in Ouagadougou on Wednesday evening to begin assessing the extent of the problem and advising the government on its response. The government of Taiwan announced today that it is preparing to dispatch a medical corps and vaccines to Burkina Faso on Friday. Neighbouring Ghana has closed its border to all transfers of poultry from Burkina Faso. Children are particularly at risk from the failure to cull the birds, according to Bernadette Yameogo, a schools inspector in Saaba. “I am doubly worried because there are primary schools continuing to run very close to bird farms without bearing in mind that the children can be contaminated by the H5N1 virus,” she said. Yameogo called on the government to launch a public awareness campaign. “The government needs to educate the population about this disease so that they know what the consequences could be.” Already counting the cost The drop in bird sales has already impacted on people dependent on bird sales for their livelihoods. “This is a catastrophe,” said Boureima Zongo, a bird seller at a market in the suburbs of Ouagadougou, close to Saaba. “I don’t have any other way of working except selling birds - it’s all I have done for 35 years. Now there is bird flu in Burkina Faso what will become of me? Before bird flu I sold 300 birds each day. Now it’s difficult to sell even 10.” Zongo must feed three wives and 18 children. Ousseini Sanfo, 20, another bird seller at the market in Saaba said since Monday lunchtime he has sold just one or two birds per day instead of the average 12. “People have completely stopped eating chicken because this disease has come,” said Sanfo. “I don’t understand bird flu.” Not only have sales plummeted but prices have also fallen. Before Monday the price of a bird ranged from 1,000 CFA (US $1.80) to 2,000 CFA. Now it is around 800 francs, and falling. The government announced on Tuesday that it would be implementing a compensation program of up to 1,500 CFA (US $2.80). “We are at the beginning of our response to the crisis against this disease. We hope that the appropriate measures will be taken,” said Saaba Medical Centre president Madi Compaore.