Bird
flu confirmed in second African country Niger
reports infected poultry in small village; tests negative
in Senegal
By the Associate Press
Dead
birds are gathered to be taken to a dump for
burning at Phed Farm in the Danbare suburb of
the northern city of Kano.
PARIS - Niger
has become the second African country with confirmed
cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, a lab official
said Monday. Ilaria Capua, chief of the laboratory in
Padua, Italy, said the tests were confirmed Monday and
the government of the impoverished West African country
had been informed.
The H5N1 strain had earlier been confirmed in Nigeria,
Niger’s southern neighbor, and officials had said
in mid-February they were investigating whether it had
surfaced in Niger. Experts have been particularly concerned
about the spread of H5N1 to Africa, which is unprepared
for such a health crisis because of its weak infrastructure.
The virus is believed to have spread unchecked in Nigeria
before it was identified, and Nigeria’s efforts
to contain it have been hampered by a lack of resources
and information.
In Niger, a senior Health Ministry official said the
virus was detected in Illela, a small village 45 miles
from the border with Nigeria. He had no word on how
many birds may have died or any other details. He spoke
on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized
to speak to the media.
Further tests were being carried out to determine how closely
the strain found in Niger matched the H5N1 strain detected
elsewhere in the world.
Capua, speaking at a bird flu conference in France, said
she feared the arrival of the virus in a second African country
was “just the prelude to the virus becoming endemic
in Africa.”
“Given the sort of agriculture they have and given
the hygienic standards they have in animal farming, I believe
that this is just the start,” she said.
Humans and poultry live close together on small farms across
Africa, as in Asia where the current H5N1 wave began and where
the virus first jumped to humans.
Capua offered a glimmer of good news, though, saying tests
on birds from Senegal had come back negative.
The lethal H5N1 bird flu strain has spread from Asia to Europe,
the Middle East and Africa, and scientists fear it could mutate
into a form that is easily transmitted between humans, sparking
a pandemic. The disease has killed more than 90 people, mostly
in Southeast Asia, according to the World Health Organization.
