Bird Flu Outbreak‏ - Over 2000 Birds Lost In Lagos.

The Lagos State Government on Friday acknowledged the reality of the bird flu outbreak in the state which it said had killed more than 2,000 birds in a poultry farm in Badore.

However, the state government said it had commenced intensive surveillance, which would focus on all poultry farms in the state in order to prevent spread of the deadly disease.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, disclosed the bird flu outbreak at a news conference he addressed alongside his health counterpart, Dr. Jide Idris in Alausa, Lagos.

At the conference, the commissioner said the name of the poultry farm would not be disclosed for security reasons, adding that because of the outbreak of the flu, 2,000 birds “have been depopulated from the farm while the entire farm had been quarantined.

Lawal said in order to contain the spread of the infection, the government had embarked on active Diseases Search by surveillance agents, Biosecurity Monitoring and Sensitisation in poultry farms and markets, disinfection of Poultry Markets and decontamination of affected farms and sensitisation of poultry farmers and traders on insurance policy issues.

At the conference, Idris said there was no cause for alarm and advised Lagosians to embrace basic hygiene to prevent contracting the disease, saying that people should ensure that they cook their birds properly before eating and report cases of mortality in birds in any area to the government.

Avian influenza (AI), commonly called bird flu, is an infectious viral disease of birds. Most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans; however some, such as A(H5N1) and A(H7N9), have caused serious infections in people.

According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, outbreaks of AI in poultry may raise global public health concerns due to their effect on poultry populations, their potential to cause serious disease in people, and their pandemic potential.

Reports of highly pathogenic AI epidemics in poultry, such as A(H5N1), can seriously impact local and global economies and international trade.

The body said majority of human cases of A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) infection have been associated with direct or indirect contact with infected live or dead poultry as there is no evidence that the disease can be spread to people through properly cooked food.

The WHO said controlling the disease in animals was the first step in decreasing risks to humans. AI viruses can sometimes spread to domestic poultry and cause large-scale outbreaks of serious disease. Some of these AI viruses have also been reported to cross the species barrier and cause disease or sub-clinical infections in humans and other mammals.culled