Na wah this thing don pass be Kiaful !!!!

Naija wey people never chop belleful...and na so the street hawkers go still go fry the condemn fowl ( pack dem up clean dem well) and dem go begin sell am for street ...bet me !!!

NIGERIA test two Children for suspected Bird Flu

Nigerian doctors are testing blood samples from two children
they suspect may have been infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of
bird flu, a senior health ministry official said Sunday.

Got this from andnetwork.com...you might not see the info again on the site cos they only show it for 24 hours.

Nigeria's government has launched an investigation to determine whether a fatal bird flu strain discovered last week has spread to humans after several people were reported ill.


In a bid to contain the disease, authorities fanned out across commercial poultry farms in the north of West African country to destroy chickens suspected of being infected, slashing their necks and setting them ablaze in dirt pits.

Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo told The Associated Press officials that "one or two cases of reported illnesses among humans which could be due to bird flu, though none has been confirmed so far".

Investigations are being conducted in the commercial capital, Lagos, and in the northern state of Kaduna, where the H5N1 bird flu strain was reported on a farm in Jaji on Wednesday. Lambo gave no details, but said he expected results to be released by Sunday.

Elsewhere, China reported its eighth human death from the H5N1 strain, and Indonesia reported its eighteenth death. Italy, Greece and Bulgaria on today became the latest countries to record the strain head appeared in birds.

Bird flu has killed at least 88 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003 and ravaged poultry stocks across Asia, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 140 million birds, according to the World Health Organization.

It is difficult for people to catch bird flu, though, and no human H5N1 cases have been recorded in Africa.

The U.N.'s bird flu chief, Dr. David Nabarro, said the disease's arrival in Nigeria should be "a strong wake-up call" to all countries. He said the flu's spread from Asia to Europe and Africa has increased the chance the virus will mutate and set off pandemic that could be transmitted among humans.

"Unfortunately, we cannot tell when the mutation might happen, or where it might happen, or how unpleasant the mutant virus will turn out to be," he said. "Nevertheless, we must remain on high alert for the possibility of sustained human-to-human virus transmission and of a pandemic starting at any time." H5N1's arrival in Africa, a poor, ill-prepared continent, was first reported on Wednesday at Sambawa Farms in Jaji and the virus has
been confirmed at five farms in all: one in Kaduna, two in Plateau state and two in Kano. Authorities say at least 100,000 birds have died so far.

Twenty other farms are suspected to have been infected with bird flu in Kano and at least two more in Kaduna, according to Shehu Bawa and Ishaya Dangiwa, who head the government veterinary teams in those states.

Police, veterinarians and farmers began destroying thousands of chickens on farms across the north on Friday.

At one farm believed infected in Jaji, veterinary officials destroyed chickens today, slashing their necks, dumping them in pits and setting them on fire. Dangiwa said all birds in a three-kilometer (two-mile) radius of Sambawa Farms would be destroyed.

Nearby, police armed with automatic weapons finished off a group of 180 ostriches. They had begun culling the birds Friday, but ran out of bullets and were forced to finish the job today.

While a seven-man veterinary team at Sambawa Farms wore orange protective clothing, only one of four veterinary workers destroying birds at another farm in Kano wore the same, underscoring the lack of equipment and resources necessary to effectively carry out the job.

Most of those taking part were sprayed with disinfectant before culling began. Six farmworkers helping them used bare hands to handle the chickens, though, pushing wheelbarrows full of dead poultry into a pit and setting them on fire.

On Friday, a Nigerian official said birds would be destroyed only where experts could confirm the presence of the fatal bird flu strain.

International experts have pressed Nigeria to do more to combat the first outbreak in Africa of H5N1, and Nabarro praised Nigeria's efforts.

Nigerian authorities insist they are taking the necessary measures against the disease, but agriculture spokesman Tope Ajakaiye said there were no plans to close poultry markets or to impose restrictions on the trade or movement of poultry measures.

"I don't think it has gotten to that level," Ajakaiye said. "We don't want to cause a situation where there will be much panic or alarm."

GOD HELP US!

Benin`s minister of agriculture, livestock and fisheries and his counterpart of health revealed on Friday that the government has formulated an emergency plan to curb the possible spread of bird flu in the country after the discovery of the continent`s first cases in neighbouring Nigeria.

The two minister told a news conference that development partners and actors in the poultry sector had participated in the plan`s formulation.

According to them, the emergency plan consists of an information component as well as actions to be taken to curb the infectious disease that has been detected in Nigeria with which Benin shares a common border of more than 750 kilometres.

Benin has immediately imposed a temporary ban on the distribution and transit of poultry, its parts or frozen chicken, day old chicks, eggs and livestock feed from countries affected by bird flu.

The government has also started updating the list of affected countries and to wage an awareness campaign about the disease.

Other actions include the enhancement of health control measures at border entry points such as ports, airports and roads to prevent the entry of bird flu in Benin.

Meanwhile, the two ministries appealed to the population and poultry keepers to inform the nearest veterinary centre and local authorities in case they come across a suspicious dead chicken or wild bird.

They also urged them to abide by basic hygienic conditions, avoid moving animals, eating raw eggs or half-cooked chicken found dead or cheaply bought.

The government has also created a crisis inter-ministerial committee to monitor the situation and co-ordinate the implementation of the emergency plan to combat bird flu.

Bolanle our news reporter well done

__________________
THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT ME; SO I GUESS I AM DOING SOMETHING RIGHT.

U MAY lOVE ME OR HATE ME BUT U CANT IGNORE ME

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Moderator I think this needs to be merged with the other bird flu thread !!

Cuz it's just d highlight of d other

__________________
THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT ME; SO I GUESS I AM DOING SOMETHING RIGHT.

U MAY lOVE ME OR HATE ME BUT U CANT IGNORE ME

A SERIES of tests conducted on two children feared to have been infected with the dreaded bird flu virus in Kaduna State has showed that they are free from the disease. The state government, which spoke on the matter on Monday, declared that the children were not only healthy but tested negative to the virus.

The Chairman of the Kaduna Response Team on Bird Flu outbreak, Dr. Abdulhamid Abubakar, said that no resident of the state had yet contracted the flu.He said the children were made to undergo necessary tests following a complaint by their parents who suspected that they might have been infected with the virus after contact with some birds.

Abubakar said the father of the children had reported the case to the committee, in response to a radio jingle, which appealed to people to report symptoms of the flu to the state government.He said the children were feared to have contracted the virus from their parents' local poultry in the Kaduna metropolis about a month ago.

His team, he said, had already visited the home of the affected persons.Abubakar explained that the children who were treated for fever and cough, had since recovered, adding that the local fowls in the family compound were destroyed in line with government's directive.

The affected children, he added, had been placed on close monitoring for any developments. As the bird flu incident draws global attention, President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed appreciation to United Nations' agencies for their offer to help Nigeria check the spread of the virus.

He, however, requested for more assistance, particularly the provision of protective clothing and disinfectants. Obasanjo spoke yesterday when Mr. Jan Egeland, the UN Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordination visited him at the State House in Abuja.

The President said the country needed to upgrade its laboratory facilities for the production of vaccines to meet the needs of the sub-region and thanked the UN for sending experts to the country to assist in the battle to check the spread of the virus. He briefed Egeland on Nigeria's peace efforts and the resettlement of refugees in the sub-region. "By and large, we are not doing badly in terms of emergency and refugee resettlement and management," he said.

. Egeland said: "Much has been achieved in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. It is a positive picture". He requested Obasanjo to avail the continent of his experience and remain a part of the efforts to restore peace in the troubled spots of the continent. Also yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Malam Adamu Bello, refuted media reports that the bird flu, which has been detected in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau states had spread to other parts of the country.

The minister's clarification has become necessary in view of the reports in some national dailies that the disease has affected other states such as Nassarawa, Katsina, Yobe, Jigawa as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). At the inauguration of public enlightenment committee on the disease, Bello said the outbreak had so far been confirmed in three states as against eight reported by the media.

"I want to state categorically that so far, the outbreak has been confirmed in only three places. That is Sambawa Farm in Kaduna, Kano and Plateau. In Kano and Plateau, the locations are in two different parts."So the issue that the outbreak appears in one state after another is totally wrong," he said. Bello, who was embarrassed by the reports said, "we have not had the kind of outbreak that has been reported."

According to him, "there are processes and procedures for declaring that an avian influenza has started in a place. We cannot say that because there is a high mortality of birds in a place, therefore, that there is avian influenza. That is subject to test and verification. In bird, poultry farms always experience poultry mortality."

Bello further said that the Federal Government had decided that any outbreak of poultry mortality would be treated as if it were avian influenza.On the possibility of any outbreak, he said: "We treat it as if there were avian influenza - quarantine the place and restrict movement of persons, take samples and stamp out the stock. Then, we go into the issue of restricting people from going in and out and decontamination of the place".

He regretted that some establishments (poultry farms in the country) do not keep proper records. "If records were kept properly, they would have known that last year by this time what was the mortality of poultry in farm A, what is it this year, what it was the year before?"

Bello said the main function of the committee is to disseminate information and enlighten the public on the bird flu. The minister asked the panel to liaise with the traditional authorities, non-governmental organisations, relevant government agencies and media outfits in discharging its duties.

"The committee is to allay fears and anxiety of the public and educate them on their roles in the effort to prevent the spread so that it would not become an epidemic in Nigeria."Bello assured that everything would be done to stamp out the disease from the country, adding that all poultry farmers that were affected would be "adequately compensated."

"We are however happy that so far, no human infection was reported as a result of the disease in Nigeria. Nigerians should not panic as everything is being done to bring the disease under control", he said.Also yesterday, the United States (U.S.) donated 200 of the 2,000 protective suits it earlier promised to the government.

Presenting the suits to Bello, the Deputy Chief of Mission in the U.S.Embassy, Mr. Thomas Furey, said "bird flu problem is not a problem of one country alone but for the whole world and everybody must unit to fight." Furey said that the remaining 1,800 protective suits would be made available in the next few weeks to protect Nigerians who help in fighting the disease from being infected.

Meanwhile, the destruction of local chickens and wild birds is being intensified by some northern state governments to prevent the flu from spreading to other states. The new offensive is being taken to the markets where the birds on display are to be slaughtered.Since the outbreak of the dreaded avian flu in Jaji, Kaduna State, last week, sale of chickens in many parts of the country has dropped.

The Guardian investigation revealed that in Kaduna and its environs, residents have been shunning chickens.At the Kaduna Central Market, which is considered the biggest live chicken market for household consumption in the North, business activities have declined.

The residents have turned apathetic to poultry meat since the official announcement of the presence of the bird flu in Sambawa Farm at the precinct of the state.At the time of visit to the market, live chicken retailers confirmed that sales have dropped.

One Alhaji Shuaibu Yusuf, a live chicken seller, urged The Guardian to inform the public not to be terrified at the news. He was worried that sales had gone bad and buyers had not been coming as usual. "I used to sell about 250 chickens per day, but now, sales have become so poor. Since morning, I have not recorded any sales," Yusuf lamented.

The chairman of the Live Chicken Sellers in the market, Alhaji Gambo Abdullahi, said that "there was no other live chicken market as big as this in Kaduna, and we don't obtain chickens from the affected farm.". He was disturbed at the current trend that has brought down patronage, and therefore sales to them.

In Makurdi, the Benue State capital, the prices of chickens have dropped as consumers shun the birds. When The Guardian visited three markets in Makurdi, it was discovered that most consumers have abandoned chicken, forcing the traders to sell the birds at rock-bottom prices.

At the Wadata Market, chicken sellers claimed that they could not sell more than two birds daily since the outbreak of bird flu virus was reported. They attributed the development to the consumers' fear that they might be affected by the virus. The situation was the same at the High Level and Wurukam markets.

The state government has set up a committee to check the disease from spreading in the state. The Commissioner for Animal Resource, Mr. Michael Iduma, announced the constitution of the panel.Similarly, the National Veterinary Research Institute, Zonal Laboratory, Akure in Ondo State has banned the movement of birds into the state from other states to prevent the spread of the bird flu.

A meeting was also held by the institute, the Poultry Association of Nigerian, Ondo State branch and market women to educate the residents on the outbreak of the disease. Speaking with The Guardian in Akure, the institute's Deputy Director, Dr. Felix Akingbade, said the institute was more conscious than ever before as it has mounted surveillance at all control posts.

The Kano State government has pledged to compensate poultry farmers affected by bird flu. The Special Adviser on Food Security to the Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Alli, said that a committee of experts had been set up to do the job.He explained that the committee would visit all poultry farms in the state to assess the extent of infection and report back to the government for immediate assistance to the farmers.

The Katsina State Information Commissioner, Abdu Haro Mashi, said a veterinary institute was testing six dead chickens from a breeding farm in the city. The results could be available by the end of the week, Mashi said.
After the six birds died, the rest of the 3,000 fowls there were destroyed, he said.H5N1, the avian influenza found in the farms in Nigeria, has killed at least 88 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, but no human cases have been confirmed in Africa so far.

Nigeria's bird flu epidemic spreads despite mass culling Fri Feb 17, 6:05 AM ET



KANO (AFP) - Nigerian officials said a deadly strain of bird flu had been detected in another farm and health officials pressed on with mass poultry culling in the ravaged north to prevent the disease from claiming human lives.

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Ali Hussani Dutsin-Mad, the top health bureaucrat in the the northern state of Katsina, told AFP that the deadly strain of the H5N1 virus that can kill humans had been detected in a second farm near the state capital.

"The poultry farm had 1,000 chickens out of which 300 died of the infection," he told AFP on Friday.

"We culled 700 chickens ... the farm has been closed down and the whole area disinfected."

Kabiru Ali, the top agriculture official of the nearby state of Jigawa -- where a suspected outbreak of bird flu was reported -- said there would be mass culling as a precautionary measure.

"We have ordered for the killing of all chickens in the area where the outbreak has been reported," he said.

Ali however said the planned 250 naira (less than two dollars) compensation to be paid by the federal government for every chicken killed was not enough and said the federal administration would hike the sum.

Nigeria's top veterinary expert Dr Lami Lombin said monitors and experts have fanned out across the sprawling country of 36 states, where bird flu has been confirmed in five northern ones.

"We are going round the country for screening to ensure consumer confidence," she told AFP, adding that President Olusegun Obasanjo's farm had also been checked on Thursday.

"The president's farm is not exempted. In this situation no-one is exempted. We take sample of the birds for testing," she said.

Daniel Atsu, managing director of Obasanjo Holdings Ltd, said the president's poultry farm with one million chickens and a staff of 4,000, was among the country's seven largest.

"We on the farm know that everything is okay. But there must be a proof that can show to people eating our chickens that they are safe," he told The Guardian newspaper.

Meanwhile, Helder Muteia, the country head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation said the body was trying to trace how the virus entered Nigeria.

He said while there could be several possibilities, the two most probable ways were that "either the virus came with migratory birds, or it was fraudulent importations of birds from Asia," adding: "We expect the results as soon as possible."

Since the outbreak was first detected in Nigeria, tens of thousands of poultry, ducks and ostriches have been culled, burned and buried.

One of the main worries of the government is to prevent the spread of the epidemic to the densely populated south and the economic capital Lagos.

Nigeria on Wednesday banned backyard poultry in the capital Abuja and its surrounds but has so far ignored a call from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to close meat markets in the northern states of Kano and Kaduna.

Poultry is also freely transported across Africa's most populous nation.

Obasanjo met Wednesday with international donors and announced the formation of a special monitoring cell to track and stem the growing epidemic while pledging to "continue to work until the flu is stamped out."

He also ordered his ministers to work round-the-clock "until the flu is contained."

old news abeg NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!

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AIDS is real,stop DECEIVING urself.check ya status!

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I pray it shudnt reach my quartier