Countries across West and Central Africa are on alert as the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) continues to spread across the region, with Cameroon becoming the latest African country to detect the disease, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said.
The virus can infect and cause death in humans and kills poultry at a high rate.
It said the latest H5N1 outbreaks were recently confirmed on chicken farms in Cameroon putting the poultry production in the country and its neighbors at high risk, noting that, “this is the first time the disease has been found in Central Africa since 2006.”
“This brings the number of countries that have battled bird flu in West and Central Africa to six, also including Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria,” it said.
The FAO said: “Nigeria continues to be most affected with the total number of outbreaks exceeding 750 with nearly 3.5 million birds dead or culled, while the newly recorded outbreaks in Cameroon raise significant concerns that the disease may be advancing southward, triggering national and global emergency responses to contain the disease, and health screenings of poultry workers.”
The UN agency alerted neighboring governments to be vigilant and continue their heightened surveillance and prevention efforts, including common messaging to the public and data sharing between the public health and agriculture sectors.
The FAO disclosed that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza has caused the death of tens of millions of poultry and losses of tens of billions of dollars worldwide since the virus first spread internationally in 2013, and in Cameroon alone, losses have added up to an estimated US$20 million.
Photo credit: BFT online
Photo credit: BFT online
