Expert raises the alarm on bird flu
THe was reacting to the report that nearly 20,000 poultry birds have been killed in India to limit the spread of bird flu .
Adeloye, of the Department of Animal Production, University of Ilorin, (UNILORIN), said India shares the same climate condition with Nigeria, urging the government to increase attempts to prevent an outbreak.
According to him, the incident in india is a warning for the possible spread of bird flu, and called for `enhance community awareness, rousing people to actively implement preventive measures.
Nearly 20,000 poultry birds have been killed in India to limit the spread of bird flu, which was identified at a farm belonging to the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CPDO), a central government agency, in Bhubaneswar city, Odisha, India.
The farm has about 29,000 birds, including some rare varieties that are used for breeding.
About 48,000 birds are expected to be culled over the next few days, including 9,000 fowls at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) and 9,000 birds in Salia Sahi, as these areas fall within the alert zone.
In 2006, there was an incidence sof bird flu in farm in Jaji, Kaduna State. All 46,000 chicken, geese and ostriches on the farm were killed. The Federal Government banned the movement of birds and people off the farm.
A year later, a woman was among three people who reported died of flu like symptoms in Lagos. She tested positive for the H5N1 strain of Avian influenza.
It was first bird flu in the country since the strain arrived in Nigeria in 2006. H5N1 was confirmed in blood samples tested in Rome and London from the three deaths.
Avian influenzaBird flu is spread by wild birds for whom the virus is a stomach disease and, generally, not fatal.