12 May 2006
Human Bird Flu Appears in Djibouti, First in Horn of Africa
Ten nations now have spotted human cases of avian influenza
Washington -- Djibouti is the latest country to report the appearance of highly pathogenic avian influenza in humans, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with a May 12 account of illness in a 2-year-old girl.
The child’s symptoms first appeared April 23, and the presence of the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed now by the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU-3), a Cairo-based facility that is a key confirming laboratory in the region. (See related article.)
The girl is in stable condition with persistent symptoms, according to WHO. Her disease is the first human case reported in the Horn of Africa. Djibouti becomes the 10th nation to report a human case of the disease that originated in animals in Southeast Asia and has spread through South and Central Asia, Europe and Africa over the last year.
Indonesia reported its first human case of H5N1 infection in 2005, and has now reported a total of 33 human cases with 25 deaths. That is the second largest number of cases in a single nation among the 10 reporting, exceeded only by Vietnam.
The latest Indonesian case was confirmed by the Ministry of Health May 8. A 30-year-old man from Greater Jakarta developed symptoms April 17 and died on April 26.
International health officials warn that H5N1 has the potential to spark pandemic influenza if it becomes contagious among humans. Virtually all the human cases so far have resulted from direct contact with birds carrying the virus.
ANIMAL INFECTIONS OF H5N1
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) confirmed the presence of H5N1 in animals in Cote d’Ivoire for the first time May 11. Its weekly accounting of animal disease reported two outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Abidjan district, occurring among free-ranging chickens and ducks.
The Ministry of Animal Production and Fish Resources reported that some control measures are already under way, and further steps are to be taken.
Also in that May 11 account, Sudan reported further outbreaks of disease in birds across a broad swath of the country, both north and south of Khartoum.
Turkish health officials detected no new suspected outbreaks in this weekly reporting period, and 12 previously reported outbreaks in nine provinces have been eradicated.
The total number of nations that have detected H5N1 in either wild or domestic birds now comes to 51. More than half those nations have found their first cases since the beginning of 2006.
For more information on avian influenza and efforts to combat it, see Bird Flu.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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