Fears for bird flu in Ethiopia

2006-02-28 10:06

Addis Ababa - Ethiopian officials announced on Tuesday that tests were under way at a southern poultry farm after thousands of chickens died of a "bird flu-like" disease.

Samples from over 6 000 chickens that died in the Endibir area of the country's Southern Nation and Nationality People's (SNNP) regional state were being sent to an Italian laboratory for further study.

"The bird-flu resembling disease was observed in Gubere Poultry Centre... and laboratory tests carried out locally indicated the existence of a bird flu-like disease," the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.

Ministry spokesperson Mulugeta Debalkew said measures were being taken to prevent the disease from spreading, including a ban on the sale of the poultry and poultry products in a 60km radius of Gubere.

Sileshi Zewde, the ministry's chief veterinarian said 6 082 chickens had died at the poultry farm and that examinations of 49 of them had confirmed the presence of a bird flu-like disesase.

The fear is that the disease will turn out to be the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus that has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003.

Sileshi said that all remaining live chickens at the Gubere centre would be killed an incinerated as a precaution.

Ethiopia, along with other East African Rift Valley nations like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, are considered at high risk for the spread of the virus as millions of migratory birds flock there during the European winter.

Kenyan authorities are testing hundreds of dead chickens that were found dumped in the capital for a possible outbreak of avian flu, officials there said on Monday.

Although the H5N1 strain does not spread easily between people, those who come in contact with sick birds can contract it and scientists say millions of people worldwide could die if it mutates into a disease communicable among humans.

African nations, whose largely impoverished populations are susceptible to illness, have appealed for help in dealing with what experts predict are almost certain outbreaks of the disease on the continent.

Many, including Ethiopia, have slapped full or partial imports on imports of poultry, poultry products and wild bird and have begun monitoring migratory birds as they arrive.

Nigeria and Egypt have both reported cases of avian flu in birds.

- AFP