3 more H5N1 cases in Djibouti
2006-05-12 17:15
Djibouti - Health authorities in Djibouti have probed more suspected human cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
A day after confirming a two-year-old girl in the tiny Red Sea state was infected with the disease, scientists said three more possible human cases were being investigated.
The World Health Organisation's Maria Cheng said: "Three others are under investigation."
She said samples from the three patients, believed to be from the same family as the child, had been sent to the United States-run laboratory in Egypt that first confirmed the presence of H5N1 in Djibouti on April 27.
Another WHO official said the affected family lives in an impoverished rural village near Djibouti's border with Somalia and kept chickens.
Toddler is alive and being treated
Djibouti's health and agricultural authorities, along with WHO officials, were analysing poultry in the area on Friday.
The WHO representative in Djibouti, Jihane Tawilah, said: "They are investigating possible contact between humans and infected birds and looking into the possibility of other human cases."
He said the infected toddler was alive and being treated in a hospital in the capital.
Djibouti's minister of health, Abdallah Abdillahi Miguil, said an emergency task force had been set up to alert the country's 300 000 population to the disease.
Djibouti is the first East African country to report the appearance of the H5N1 virus in either birds or humans.
It is the second in Africa to report a human case of bird flu, after Egypt, where five people have died of the disease so far.
Most Djiboutians keep cattle
It is the eighth African country to find the strain in birds - after Nigeria, Egypt, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Sudan.
Djibouti health officials said they were surprised that the region's first cases appeared in the country, as most of the population are nomadic pastoralists who keep cattle, sheep and goats.
Chicken is considered a luxury by most of the population. About 90 % of the poultry eaten in the country is imported frozen.
Cheng said the WHO has sent supplies of the anti-influenza treatment, Tamiflu, and protective equipment to Djibouti, and was ready to deploy experts to the Red Sea state if requested.