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Animal health body reports bird flu in Ivory Coast

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 14:45 CDT

PARIS (Reuters) - The first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been reported in Ivory Coast, where 17 infected birds were found in the Abidjan area, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday.

Bird flu outbreaks have been reported in five other African countries, including Egypt where the World Health Organization says there have been 12 human cases, four of them fatal.

Health experts fear Africa's poor human and animal health services, large backyard poultry population and lack of resources could make it an easy target for a broader outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, already blamed for the deaths of more than 100 people worldwide.

The Paris-based OIE said the two separate outbreaks of bird flu in Ivory Coast, a former French colony in West Africa, concerned seven free-range chickens, nine ducks and one sparrow hawk.

"Two outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been reported in Abidjan district (Marcory Anoumabo and Treichville communes) in Lagunes region," it said in a statement on its Web site.

Local officials had begun destroying some birds, disinfecting the area and restricting movement there, it added.

It said it received confirmation of the cases on Tuesday from the Ministry of Animal Production and Fish Resources in Abidjan.

"Nine ducks died in an Abidjan neighborhood last week. Our teams carried out some tests and suspected avian flu," Animal Production Minister Alphonse Douati told Reuters, adding that the government would address the nation on the issue later.

Bird flu has spread rapidly since late 2003 from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Since the beginning of the year alone, more than 30 new countries have reported outbreaks.

Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Egypt and Burkina Faso have already confirmed the virus in Africa, where experts fear weak health systems could be delaying the detection of human cases.

(Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan)

Source: REUTERS

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