Zim on high alert for bird flu

2005-10-30 14:33

Harare - Zimbabwe is on high alert following warnings of the possible arrival of a virulent strain of bird flu in Africa, a state weekly reported on Sunday.

The Sunday Mail newspaper said the health ministry had established a task force "to put in place all the necessary measures needed for the early detection of the influenza virus."

The deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza has killed some 60 people in Asia.

The newspaper quoted health minister David Parirenyatwa as saying the task force comprising officials from the ministries of health and agriculture and the immigration department was "already working flat out."

"We have revised the health task force established during the global Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak to put in place measures to detect any possible arrival of the influenza," Parirenyatwa told the newspaper.

"We urge people not to panic but rather to be alert."

A similar committee was formed in the southern African country following an outbreak of the deadly Ebola-like Marburg virus that claimed more than 200 lives in Angola early this year.

The World Health Organisation has warned about the possible arrival of the avian influenza in Africa.

The UN health agency said migratory birds which are believed to have carried the virus to south-eastern Europe in recent weeks, normally head towards Africa in summer.

It said the impoverished continent's weak surveillance health care systems would hamper early detection of the bird flu virus.

- SAPA