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Nigerian Government Steps Up Efforts to Contain Bird Flu Virus

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 09:00 CST

Excerpt from report by Olukayode Oyeleye entitled "Suspected infected kids test negative to bird flu" by Nigerian newspaper The Guardian website on 15 February;subheadings inserted editorially

A series of tests conducted on two children feared to have been infected with the dreaded bird flu virus in Kaduna State [northern Nigeria] has showed that they are free from the disease.

The state government, which spoke on the matter on Monday [13 February], declared that the children were not only healthy but tested negative to the virus.

The chairman of the Kaduna Response Team on Bird Flu outbreak, Dr Abdulhamid Abubakar, said that no resident of the state had yet contracted the flu.

He said the children were made to undergo necessary tests following a complaint by their parents who suspected that they might have been infected with the virus after contact with some birds.

Abubakar said the father of the children had reported the case to the committee, in response to a radio jingle, which appealed to people to report symptoms of the flu to the state government.

He said the children were feared to have contracted the virus from their parents' local poultry in the Kaduna metropolis about a month ago.

His team, he said, had already visited the home of the affected persons.

Abubakar explained that the children who were treated for fever and cough, had since recovered, adding that the local fowls in the family compound were destroyed in line with government's directive.

The affected children, he added, had been placed on close monitoring for any developments.

Appeal for assistance

As the bird flu incident draws global attention, President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed appreciation to United Nations' agencies for their offer to help Nigeria check the spread of the virus. He, however, requested for more assistance, particularly the provision of protective clothing and disinfectants.

Obasanjo spoke yesterday when Mr Jan Egeland, the UN Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordination visited him at the State House in Abuja.

The president said the country needed to upgrade its laboratory facilities for the production of vaccines to meet the needs of the subregion and thanked the UN for sending experts to the country to assist in the battle to check the spread of the virus.

He briefed Egeland on Nigeria's peace efforts and the resettlement of refugees in the subregion.

"By and large, we are not doing badly in terms of emergency and refugee resettlement and management," he said.

Egeland said: "Much has been achieved in Nigeria and the West African subregion. It is a positive picture".

He requested Obasanjo to avail the continent of his experience and remain a part of the efforts to restore peace in the troubled spots of the continent.

Denial

Also yesterday, the minister of agriculture and rural development, Malam Adamu Bello, refuted media reports that the bird flu, which has been detected in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau states had spread to other parts of the country.

The minister's clarification has become necessary in view of the reports in some national dailies that the disease has affected other states such as Nassarawa, Katsina, Yobe, Jigawa as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

At the inauguration of public enlightenment committee on the disease, Bello said the outbreak had so far been confirmed in three states as against eight reported by the media.

"I want to state categorically that so far, the outbreak has been confirmed in only three places. That is Sambawa Farm in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau. In Kano and Plateau, the locations are in two different parts. So the issue that the outbreak appears in one state after another is totally wrong," he said.

Bello, who was embarrassed by the reports said, "We have not had the kind of outbreak that has been reported."

According to him, "There are processes and procedures for declaring that an avian influenza has started in a place. We cannot say that because there is a high mortality of birds in a place, therefore, that there is avian influenza. That is subject to test and verification. In bird, poultry farms always experience poultry mortality."

Bello further said that the federal government had decided that any outbreak of poultry mortality would be treated as if it were avian influenza.

On the possibility of any outbreak, he said: "We treat it as if there were avian influenza -quarantine the place and restrict movement of persons, take samples and stamp out the stock. Then, we go into the issue of restricting people from going in and out and decontamination of the place".

Proper records

He regretted that some establishments (poultry farms in the country) do not keep proper records. "If records were kept properly, they would have known that last year by this time what was the mortality of poultry in farm A, what is it this year, what it was the year before?"

Bello said the main function of the committee is to disseminate information and enlighten the public on the bird flu.

The minister asked the panel to liaise with the traditional authorities, non-governmental organizations, relevant government agencies and media outfits in discharging its duties.

"The committee is to allay fears and anxiety of the public and educate them on their roles in the effort to prevent the spread so that it would not become an epidemic in Nigeria."

Bello assured that everything would be done to stamp out the disease from the country, adding that all poultry farmers that were affected would be "adequately compensated."

No human infection reported

"We are however happy that so far, no human infection was reported as a result of the disease in Nigeria. Nigerians should not panic as everything is being done to bring the disease under control", he said.

Also yesterday, the United States (US) donated 200 of the 2,000 protective suits it earlier promised to the government.

Presenting the suits to Bello, the deputy chief of mission in the US embassy, Mr Thomas Furey, said "bird flu problem is not a problem of one country alone but for the whole world and everybody must unit to fight."

Furey said that the remaining 1,800 protective suits would be made available in the next few weeks to protect Nigerians who help in fighting the disease from being infected.

New offensive

Meanwhile, the destruction of local chickens and wild birds is being intensified by some northern state governments to prevent the flu from spreading to other states. The new offensive is being taken to the markets where the birds on display are to be slaughtered.

Since the outbreak of the dreaded avian flu in Jaji, Kaduna State, last week, sale of chickens in many parts of the country has dropped.

The Guardian investigation revealed that in Kaduna and its environs, residents have been shunning chickens.

At the Kaduna Central Market, which is considered the biggest live chicken market for household consumption in the north, business activities have declined.

The residents have turned apathetic to poultry meat since the official announcement of the presence of the bird flu in Sambawa Farm at the precinct of the state.

At the time of visit to the market, live chicken retailers confirmed that sales have dropped. [Passage omitted]

In Makurdi, the Benue State capital, the prices of chickens have dropped as consumers shun the birds.

When The Guardian visited three markets in Makurdi, it was discovered that most consumers have abandoned chicken, forcing the traders to sell the birds at rock-bottom prices.

At the Wadata Market, chicken sellers claimed that they could not sell more than two birds daily since the outbreak of bird flu virus was reported. They attributed the development to the consumers' fear that they might be affected by the virus. The situation was the same at the High Level and Wurukam markets.

The state government has set up a committee to check the disease from spreading in the state. The commissioner for Animal Resource, Mr Michael Iduma, announced the constitution of the panel.

Similarly, the National Veterinary Research Institute, Zonal Laboratory, Akure in Ondo State has banned the movement of birds into the state from other states to prevent the spread of the bird flu.

A meeting was also held by the institute, the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Ondo State branch and market women to educate the residents on the outbreak of the disease.

Speaking with The Guardian in Akure, the institute's Deputy Director, Dr Felix Akingbade, said the institute was more conscious than ever before as it has mounted surveillance at all control posts.

Compensation

The Kano State government has pledged to compensate poultry farmers affected by bird flu. The Special Adviser on Food Security to the Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Alli, said that a committee of experts had been set up to do the job.

He explained that the committee would visit all poultry farms in the state to assess the extent of infection and report back to the government for immediate assistance to the farmers.

The Katsina State information commissioner, Abdu Haro Mashi, said a veterinary institute was testing six dead chickens from a breeding farm in the city. The results could be available by the end of the week, Mashi said.

After the six birds died, the rest of the 3,000 fowls there were destroyed, he said.

H5N1, the avian influenza found in the farms in Nigeria, has killed at least 88 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, but no human cases have been confirmed in Africa so far.

Source: BBC Monitoring Africa

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