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Nigeria: H5N1 spreading fast
21/02/2006 21:04 - (SA)
Kano - Nigeria's bird-flu epidemic entered its second week on Tuesday as a top United Nations expert voiced fears that Africa's first outbreak showed no signs of abating.
Meanwhile, Nigeria said on Monday the deadly H5N1 virus strain that can kill humans had been confirmed in three new states and the capital, Abuja, bringing the number of areas affected to seven.
Joseph Domenech, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's chief veterinary officer said: "The situation is very worrying.
"Given the case of Nigeria, given the extreme mobility of people and poultry, it will continue to spread. From Nigeria, this could become a regional crisis very easily."
Domenech said from Rome that the only sure way to halt the spread of the virus was vaccinating chickens.
He dismissed arguments that the measure would be prohibitively expensive.
Confirmed in six states
"Pure stamping out will not control the epidemic," he said, referring to the Nigerian mass poultry slaughter programme.
"We have been asking that there are strategic stocks of vaccines in Nigeria."
Nigerian information minister Frank Nweke confirmed on Monday the presence of bird flu in six states - Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Bauchi, Katsina and Zamfara - as well as in Abuja and its surrounds.
"The situation is under control to the extent that the outbreak is mostly localised to contiguous states," he said, underlining that there was "no report of any human infection in spite of the extensive diagnostic tests".
The government had also received stocks of "Tamiflu which is being used in the management of the flu among humans in countries where this has occurred", said Nweke.
Asking for help
Nigerian health minister Eyitayo Lambo had asked for 250 000 doses of the anti-viral drug.
Nigeria, the first country in Africa to confirm the presence of bird flu, finally paid heed on Saturday to UN warnings and banned the movement of poultry across the vast country of 36 states.
In Paris, the foreign ministry spokesperson announced that minister Douste-Blazy would visit Nigeria at the end of this week "to assess the needs of the country and identify measures which could be put in place to respond to the situation".
- AFP
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