The tiny Red Sea state of Djibouti on Thursday reported east Africa's first human case of the deadly H5N1 deadly bird flu strain and said some chickens were also infected.
The health ministry said that virology tests from samples of an
infected person taken last month were positive for the virulent
strain of the flu virus, which had also affected three domestic
fowl.
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Tests were positive
"Tests from a person suffering from flu-like symptoms on April
27 were positive for the disease," the ministry said in a statement
read on state radio. "Three domestic hens were also affected by the
virus."
The ministry said the tests were carried out with the
collaboration of the World Health Organization (WHO) at a
laboratory in Cairo but did not give the condition or identity of
the infected person.
But it said that the person had been in direct contact with
infected fowl and called on the population to avoid proximity to
live birds and report suspicious deaths of fowl.
The ministry added that the government was taking "all necessary
precautions" to keep the virus from spreading, would step up its
monitoring of humans and poultry and ensure the provision of drugs
to treat it.
2nd African country
Djibouti is the first country in east Africa to report the
appearance of the H5N1 virus in either birds or humans and the
second in Africa to report a human case after Egypt.
It is the eighth African country to find the strain in birds
after Nigeria, Egypt, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast
and Sudan.
The H5N1 virus has struck poultry flocks in dozens of countries
in Asia, Europe and Africa and claimed more than 100 human lives,
but in Africa only Egypt so far has seen human fatalities with five
deaths reported.
Health authorities had long warned that east Africa was at
particular risk for the spread of the virus because it hosts large
numbers of migratory birds thought to be carriers.
But suspected outbreaks reported after mass bird deaths in
countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya have all proved
negative to date.
Epidemiologists say the H5N1 viral strain, which can kill
humans, requires very close contact to jump the species barrier.
Tens of millions of infected birds have passed the virus on to a
total of 206 people in two and a half years.
Of these known cases, confirmed by the WHO, more than half have
died.
Global pandemic feared
Health officials fear a global pandemic of the disease with
millions of deaths if it mutates into a strain easily transmitted
between humans.
They have also warned that many nations in Africa, the world's
poorest continent, are highly vulnerable to the spread of bird flu
due to the close proximity between people and animals. – (Sapa-AFP)
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