Bird flu hits Ogun state
2006-03-11 14:02
Lagos - A deadly strain of bird flu has been detected in Nigeria's southwestern Ogun state, a health official said on Saturday, raising fears that the virus was creeping towards the country's most populous commercial city, Lagos.
"There are cases in Ogun. Our team is there now and they are decontaminating," said Abdusalami Nasidi, who heads Nigeria's response team against the disease.
"It's only one farm so far," he said, adding: "We shall follow up closely any new cases that are being detected."
The highly pathogenic form of avian influenza has now been identified in 11 of the 36 states in Africa's most populous country, as well as around the federal capital Abuja.
The detection of the new cases was expected to raise fears that the highly virulent strain of H5N1 bird flu would soon reach Lagos, home to some 15 million inhabitants, which lies wedged between the Atlantic ocean and Ogun state.
Nasidi said despite Nigeria's resources being stretched by the outbreak, the government was taking all "necessary measures" and would "soon be in a better position to fight the disease".
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that 60 people under observation in Nigeria due to bird flu-like symptoms had been cleared after medical tests proved negative.
The virus, which has spread to humans in close contact with infected birds, has infected at least 175 people in seven countries in Asia and the Middle East since 2003, killing 97 of them, according to WHO figures.
Experts fear that it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans.
- SAPA