Ethiopia Testing for H5N1

NAIROBI - Feb 28/06 - IRIN -- Samples from a poultry farm in southern Ethiopia where thousands of chickens have died are to be sent to Europe for further analysis to determine whether the birds died of avian flu, an official said on Tuesday.

Local tests have found "flu-like" symptoms in 49 chickens from the farm, but more tests were needed to determine what exactly killed the birds.

"There are many types of avian flu, so to determine what type it is and get our results confirmed we have to send the samples to Italy," Mulugeta Debalkew of the agriculture ministry told reporters.

Samples from some of the 6,082 chickens that had died in the past two weeks at the farm will be sent to an Italian laboratory for further analysis in the next 48 hours.

The farm is located in Endibir, 175 km southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa. The area is within the Southern Nation and Nationality People's (SNNP) regional state.

Selashi Zewde, head of the veterinary department of the agriculture ministry, said some 9,000 chickens at the affected farm would be culled starting on Tuesday. He explained that measures were being taken to prevent the disease from spreading, including a ban on the sale of the poultry and poultry products within a 60-km radius of the farm.

Ethiopia, along with other East African Rift Valley nations like Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, are considered at high risk for the spread of the virus, as more than 5 billion migratory birds flock to the region every year.

The H5N1 strain of avian flu has killed more than 80 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003. Some 40 countries have recorded cases of the disease.

The virus is continuing to advance into Africa, with the World Organisation for Animal Health reporting on Monday the first cases in Niger. It has already been confirmed in Egypt and Nigeria.

In Nairobi, Kenyan authorities started testing hundreds of dead chickens for avian flu at the weekend. Samples of carcasses that were dumped near the city were collected and taken to laboratories to be tested.

On Tuesday, Kenyan authorities said that preliminary tests had ruled out bird flu. Further tests were being conducted to determine the cause of the deaths.

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006

Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

Copyright (c) 2006 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs