Eutrusca
09-02-2006, 17:45
COMMENTARY: Well, the metaphorical shit is about to hit the allegorical fan now. The first cases of bird flu have been detected in Africa. What started in Vietnam has moved Eastward at a relatively rapid pace. God help us all if ( when?? ) the virus mutates enough to enable it to be passed from human to human!
Nigeria Has Africa's First Case of Bird Flu (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/international/africa/09flu.html?th&emc=th)
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: February 9, 2006
The bird flu virus has been confirmed for the first time in Africa, a continent that is ill prepared to contain its spread, international health authorities said yesterday.
The Nigerian health authorities reported an outbreak of the (A)H5N1 virus to the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, which tracks the spread of veterinary diseases.
The outbreak began Jan. 10, and more than 40,000 chickens have died at an egg farm in Kaduna State, in northern Nigeria, according to the report. A United Nations laboratory in Padua, Italy, confirmed late Tuesday that the cause was (A)H5N1.
While international health officials had long prepared for the possibility that migratory birds might carry bird flu to Africa, confirmation that it had actually arrived nonetheless set off new concern.
The outbreak "proves that no country is risk-free and that we are facing a serious international crisis," said Samuel Jutzi, director of the Animal Production and Health Division at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.
It is not yet clear if the outbreak in Kaduna has already spread or if any humans have been infected.
Bird flu is normally controlled by quick detection of the virus, quarantine and extensive culling of birds in the affected area — strategies that are extremely difficult to carry out in poor countries that have limited laboratory capabilities and where farmers are reluctant to kill birds that are their only source of protein or income.
"If the situation in Nigeria gets out of control," Mr. Jutzi said, "it will have a devastating impact on the poultry population in the region, it will seriously damage the livelihoods of millions of people and it will increase the exposure of humans to the virus."
Nigeria has about 140 million fowls, and because the outbreak was not reported or confirmed quickly, the virus had plentiful opportunities to spread unchecked.
The Animal Production and Health Division has been tracking rumors of bird deaths in Nigeria for several weeks, said Juan Lubroth, a senior veterinarian at the organization, and is investigating similar rumors in other African nations, including Mali, Egypt, Malawi and Libya.
He noted that many such rumors would not prove true, because "any time a bird hits a window, we may hear about it."
But he said that "it should not take 20 days between rumors and investigations, and taking samples" to send to international labs. "I would like — and we need — a much quicker response," he said. The Nigerian samples were sent to the United Nations laboratory in Italy just last week.
United Nations officials said countries throughout Africa should be on high alert. Mr. Jutzi said, "It is vital that all instances of multiple bird death are reported to authorities and investigated promptly."
F.A.O. and the World Organization for Animal Health are sending veterinarians to Nigeria to assess the situation and have already dispatched two local experts to Kaduna State to advise the local authorities.
Worldwide, about 160 people have become infected with bird flu, almost all of whom had extremely close contact with sick birds. About half have died.
While the (A)H5N1 virus does not spread from human to human, scientists are worried that it might acquire that ability through normal genetic reshuffling, setting off a human pandemic. The likelihood that such reshuffling will occur increases with each uncontrolled bird outbreak and each farmer who becomes infected.
Genetic rearrangement is most likely to occur in a human body when a person is simultaneously infected with the bird virus and a human flu virus that can swap genes.
Nigeria is a member of the recently formed West African Network on Avian Influenza, sponsored by the United Nations. For years, it has also taken part in a United Nations project on reporting crossborder diseases, so if anything, officials there "are more sensitized" to the issue of bird flu than their counterparts in other nations, and the response might be slower elsewhere, Mr. Lubroth said.
Even so, United Nations officials noted, Nigeria would need considerable aid in combating the outbreak.
"The animal health infrastructure in the country is facing a big challenge and will require outside assistance," said Joseph Domenech, head of veterinary services at F.A.O.
Though Nigerian health officials said they had taken steps to contain the disease and to search for other outbreaks, farmers in Kaduna State said yesterday that bird markets remained open and poultry was still moving around the affected area.
"The government should have quarantined the affected farms to prevent further spread," said Awalu Haruna, secretary of the Poultry Farmers Association of Kano, the state capital, The Associated Press reported. "But as I speak, this has not been done. There is still movement of humans and birds in and out of these farms."
Nigeria Has Africa's First Case of Bird Flu (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/09/international/africa/09flu.html?th&emc=th)
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: February 9, 2006
The bird flu virus has been confirmed for the first time in Africa, a continent that is ill prepared to contain its spread, international health authorities said yesterday.
The Nigerian health authorities reported an outbreak of the (A)H5N1 virus to the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, which tracks the spread of veterinary diseases.
The outbreak began Jan. 10, and more than 40,000 chickens have died at an egg farm in Kaduna State, in northern Nigeria, according to the report. A United Nations laboratory in Padua, Italy, confirmed late Tuesday that the cause was (A)H5N1.
While international health officials had long prepared for the possibility that migratory birds might carry bird flu to Africa, confirmation that it had actually arrived nonetheless set off new concern.
The outbreak "proves that no country is risk-free and that we are facing a serious international crisis," said Samuel Jutzi, director of the Animal Production and Health Division at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.
It is not yet clear if the outbreak in Kaduna has already spread or if any humans have been infected.
Bird flu is normally controlled by quick detection of the virus, quarantine and extensive culling of birds in the affected area — strategies that are extremely difficult to carry out in poor countries that have limited laboratory capabilities and where farmers are reluctant to kill birds that are their only source of protein or income.
"If the situation in Nigeria gets out of control," Mr. Jutzi said, "it will have a devastating impact on the poultry population in the region, it will seriously damage the livelihoods of millions of people and it will increase the exposure of humans to the virus."
Nigeria has about 140 million fowls, and because the outbreak was not reported or confirmed quickly, the virus had plentiful opportunities to spread unchecked.
The Animal Production and Health Division has been tracking rumors of bird deaths in Nigeria for several weeks, said Juan Lubroth, a senior veterinarian at the organization, and is investigating similar rumors in other African nations, including Mali, Egypt, Malawi and Libya.
He noted that many such rumors would not prove true, because "any time a bird hits a window, we may hear about it."
But he said that "it should not take 20 days between rumors and investigations, and taking samples" to send to international labs. "I would like — and we need — a much quicker response," he said. The Nigerian samples were sent to the United Nations laboratory in Italy just last week.
United Nations officials said countries throughout Africa should be on high alert. Mr. Jutzi said, "It is vital that all instances of multiple bird death are reported to authorities and investigated promptly."
F.A.O. and the World Organization for Animal Health are sending veterinarians to Nigeria to assess the situation and have already dispatched two local experts to Kaduna State to advise the local authorities.
Worldwide, about 160 people have become infected with bird flu, almost all of whom had extremely close contact with sick birds. About half have died.
While the (A)H5N1 virus does not spread from human to human, scientists are worried that it might acquire that ability through normal genetic reshuffling, setting off a human pandemic. The likelihood that such reshuffling will occur increases with each uncontrolled bird outbreak and each farmer who becomes infected.
Genetic rearrangement is most likely to occur in a human body when a person is simultaneously infected with the bird virus and a human flu virus that can swap genes.
Nigeria is a member of the recently formed West African Network on Avian Influenza, sponsored by the United Nations. For years, it has also taken part in a United Nations project on reporting crossborder diseases, so if anything, officials there "are more sensitized" to the issue of bird flu than their counterparts in other nations, and the response might be slower elsewhere, Mr. Lubroth said.
Even so, United Nations officials noted, Nigeria would need considerable aid in combating the outbreak.
"The animal health infrastructure in the country is facing a big challenge and will require outside assistance," said Joseph Domenech, head of veterinary services at F.A.O.
Though Nigerian health officials said they had taken steps to contain the disease and to search for other outbreaks, farmers in Kaduna State said yesterday that bird markets remained open and poultry was still moving around the affected area.
"The government should have quarantined the affected farms to prevent further spread," said Awalu Haruna, secretary of the Poultry Farmers Association of Kano, the state capital, The Associated Press reported. "But as I speak, this has not been done. There is still movement of humans and birds in and out of these farms."