13 February 2006
U.S. Specialists To Help Nigeria Fight Bird Flu Outbreaks
United Nations urges neighboring nations to step up containment efforts
By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington – U.S. specialists in human and animal health are heading to Nigeria to assist the West African nation contend with outbreaks of avian influenza in commercial poultry operations.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), confirm that specialists will arrive in Nigeria February 14.
HHS/CDC staff stationed at an ongoing infectious disease program in Kenya will also go to the West African state to assist, according to a statement issued from CDC headquarters in Atlanta February 13.
The U.S. specialists will join an international team whose members are experts from major international health organizations. A veterinary team from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is in place to assess what emergency measures are needed.
CONTAINMENT IN WEST AFRICA
A February 10 FAO statement emphasized the importance of containment and the need for action to prevent further spread of the H5N1 virus from Kaduna state, where it was first detected in a commercial poultry operation.
The Rome-based organization is urging that the transport of poultry in agriculture commerce be stopped because the virus is known to spread via the movement of infected birds.
The FAO and the Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) are calling on Nigerian authorities to shut down poultry markets in the affected state and its neighbors.
The international organizations also recommend the adoption of disease-surveillance measures in the nations surrounding Nigeria -- Benin, Cameroon Chad, Ghana, Niger and Togo.
“We are aware that veterinary services in Nigeria are in need of international support,” said Joseph Domenech, FAO’s chief veterinary officer February 8, when the Nigeria outbreak first was reported.
“The animal health infrastructure in the country is facing a big challenge,” he added, “and will require outside assistance.”
Standard procedures recommended by the international organizations upon detection of contagious animal disease include widespread culling.
Nigerian authorities already have taken that step, reporting the destruction of more than 40,000 animals to the OIE.
Nigeria’s minister of agriculture announced that farmers losing animals to culling will be compensated for the property, a statement welcomed by the international organizations. Fear of the economic loss of livestock can give farmers reason to hide their animals from culling operations, allowing the virus to spread.
VIRUS CONTROL IN ITALY
Italian health officials moved extremely effectively to implement control measures after H5N1 was detected in wild swans in southern Italy.
“The measures are an example of how governments should move to contain the virus once it is detected,” said Juan Lubroth, an official with FAO’s animal health division.
A February 13 FAO statement also said no evidence exists that the disease has moved beyond this small population of wild fowl into the domesticated poultry population.
Commercial poultry farms will adopt a regimen to ensure that does not happen by confining poultry to prevent exposure to a disease possibly carried by wild birds and by maintaining other hygiene and sanitation standards.
The FAO statement also expressed confidence that European veterinary services and livestock-care methods are sufficient to contain the disease.
The full text of the FAO statement is available on the organization’s Web site, as are previous statements from the Rome-based agency that warned the lack of that experience and capability in Africa, especially eastern Africa, could lead to an explosive spread of disease in animals, and then humans.
MORE HUMAN CASES
H5N1 is primarily and most significantly an animal disease. But it has infected humans in almost 170 cases, resulting in more than 90 deaths in seven nations.
Even though those numbers have crept steadily upward, epidemiologists call them quite small considering that hundreds of millions of birds and probably millions of humans have been exposed to H5N1 from East Asia through Central Asia, southeastern Europe and now Africa.
H5N1 does not transmit to humans with ease, but health officials warn that it could mutate to develop that capability, setting in motion the conditions for pandemic influenza.
The World Health Organization issued two updates February 13 on the occurrence of avian influenza in humans.
From China comes report of the nation’s 12th confirmed human case of the disease in a 20-year-old female farmer from Hunan province who died February 4.
In Indonesia, the ministry of health has confirmed two more human fatalities from H5N1, both in subdistricts of West Java province.
Indonesia has documented 18 deaths from avian influenza since 2005. Of the seven nations to report human cases, only Vietnam has experienced more deaths.
For additional information on the disease and efforts to combat it, see Bird Flu.
The United States has been at the forefront of international activity to contribute to pandemic preparedness. See pandemicflu.gov for more information.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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