New Nigerian bird flu cases, panic selling blamed
Panic selling of birds infected with bird flu has helped spread the H5N1 virus in Nigeria, but compensation could persuade farmers to abide by quarantine rules, a top veterinary expert said on Wednesday.
The deadly H5N1 strain was confirmed last week in four farms in three northern Nigerian states, but there have been suspected outbreaks in at least five other states in Africa’s most populous country.
"Initially it was the panic selling that made it spread. Animals were being moved from farms so that the farmers wouldn’t lose everything,” said Lami Lombin, director of the veterinary lab that is testing samples from suspect poultry.
“Now that it’s been confirmed that there will be compensation, it’s better for them to keep chickens on their farms and count them. They are now beginning to comply.”
The government announced last week it would give 250 naira ($2) for each culled chicken, although it has given no details of how it intends to put the plan into practise.
Lombin’s team has confirmed bird flu was present in two more farms, but the lab is not able to identify strains of bird flu, and she said samples had been sent to a reference lab in Italy to test for H5N1.
The deadly strain of bird flu can pass from birds to humans but cannot yet spread between humans. It has killed at least 91 people in Asia and the Middle East since early 2003.
The virus poses a major health risk in Nigeria because chickens run free in millions of backyards and are carried live in public transport.
SLOW RESPONSE
Federal authorities have ordered suspect farms to be quarantined, sick birds to be culled and transport or sale of birds from affected states to stop, but implementation has been slow in some places and has not happened at all in others.
Persuading people in the countryside to cull sick chickens and avoid contact with dead ones is difficult because people are too poor to afford throwing away meat.
The Nigerian outbreak of H5N1 is the first known appearance in Africa of the strain.
No human case has been found so far. Detecting such a case will be difficult because mortality rates are high from other diseases and health services are almost non-existent in rural areas, where people are often buried without a medical check.
In Kano state, where the deadly H5N1 strain was confirmed on two farms and more than 30 others are reporting mass poultry deaths, authorities discouraged a team of U.N. experts from visiting farms, citing security fears.
Reuters has visited farms in the state where workers who were unaware of bird flu used their bare hands to throw sick and dead chickens onto fires as children watched. Chickens have also been dying in villages, where they mingle freely with people.
A 15-strong federal government team, equipped with protective kits and chemicals to fumigate infected areas, arrived in Kano on Wednesday, a week after H5N1 was confirmed.
Wearing white overalls, masks, gloves and boots, they immediately went to an affected farm to help cull chickens.
Scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, which could trigger a global flu pandemic and kill millions of people.
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