Fear Over Spread Of Bird flu increases #westafrica

Fears are growing that without timely intervention to stem outbreaks of
the highly virulent avian flu virus H5N1 across West Africa, further
spread across the region and beyond is inevitable, FAO said today.
To this end, the agency is calling for $20 million for prevention and
response activities.
The call follows outbreaks of the virus in poultry farms, markets and
family holdings in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.
The outbreak comes as countries across West Africa are still
recovering from, and in some cases still battling, Ebola. Avian flu could
trigger a mass die-off of chicken - a nutritious and inexpensive source
of food for many people- with detrimental impacts on diets and on the
economy of the region, exacerbating an already difficult situation.
Previous strains of the virus - known to be highly virulent to poultry and
capable of causing illness and fatalities in humans - have been
circulating in Asia since the early 2000s and in Egypt for almost 10
years. The H5N1 strain has caused the death of tens of millions of
poultry and losses of tens of billions of dollars.
While the first incursion of the H5N1 in West Africa occurred in 2006 it
was eliminated by 2008. In late 2014, however, the virus was re-
introduced in Nigeria, where it spread rapidly in the following three
months - to date more than 1.6 million birds have been culled or have
died from the virus.
Because the disease can be transmitted to humans and is considered
highly lethal, FAO is working closely with the World Health Organization
on country assessments, contingency plans, offering technical
assistance and investigating potential flu cases and the source of
infection.
FAO assessment missions to Benin, Cameroon, Mali and Togo -
undertaken in collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal
Health, the African Union, and in some cases with the World Bank -
have not identified cases of H5N1 in poultry, but these countries and
other countries in the Sub-Region need to ensure that prevention and
preparedness measures are in place.
"Based on what we do know, there is a real risk of further virus spread.
Urgent action is needed to strengthen veterinary investigation and
reporting systems in the region and tackle the disease at the root,
before there is a spillover to humans," said Juan Lubroth, Chief of
FAO's Animal Health Service Division.
Prevention and response
FAO's appeal for $20 million for prevention and response foresees
bolstering weak veterinary systems, improving the capabilities of local
laboratories and putting FAO specialists on the ground in affected and
at-risk countries.