A new strain of avian influenza virus (bird flu), never before reported in Africa, has been detected in Nigeria, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has announced.
A statement by the organisation said tests conducted by Nigeria and FAO showed that the new virus strain was similar to strains identified last year in Italy, Afghanistan and Iran.
The statement further said the new virus “is genetically distinct from other forms detected in Nigerian outbreaks in 2006 and 2007”.
“It seems unlikely that wild birds have carried the strain to Africa, since the last migration of wild birds from Europe and Central Asia to Africa occurred in September 2007.
“This year's southerly migration into Africa has not really started yet,” Scott Newman, International Wildlife Coordinator of FAO's Animal Health Service, said in the statement.
He also pointed out other avenues the virus could reach Nigeria as international trade or illegal and unreported movement of poultry.
“This increases the risk of an avian influenza spread to other countries in Western Africa,” the statement noted.
It said the FAO had already called for increased surveillance to monitor the virus and track its spread.
“Many countries have succeeded in getting the virus under control; but as long as avian influenza remains endemic in some countries, the international community needs to be on alert,” FAO's chief veterinary officer, Joseph Domenech, said.
Since the avian flu epidemic caused by the H5N1 strain started five years ago in Asia, more than 60 countries have so far been affected.
In Nigeria, bird flu was first confirmed in February 2006 and infected poultry in 25 states before being contained.
The statement said FAO has a team of animal health experts and veterinary epidemiologists working in the country.
In Ghana, when the virus was detected last year, a total of 1,965 birds were destroyed on three farms and the government has to pay Over GH¢8,800 as compensation to three poultry farmers whose birds and farm implements were destroyed as a result of the outbreak of the disease on their farms at Asuokwa, near Sunyani.
By Felix Dela Klutse
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