Africa reports first bird flu; 46,000 fowl slaughtered

LAGOS, Nigeria — Africa's first outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus was reported Wednesday in a large commercial farm in Nigeria that raised chickens, geese and ostriches, and 46,000 birds were slaughtered.

International health officials called for help to prevent the spread of the disease on the world's poorest continent, where governments are ill-equipped to combat it.

Nigeria said the outbreak was on a farm in Jaji, a village in the northern state of Kaduna. Agriculture Minister Adamu Bello told reporters the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus was detected in samples taken Jan. 16 from birds on the farm.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 130 million people, said it would work aggressively to halt the flow of any sick birds to unaffected zones. But farmers accused the government of being slow to respond.

Alex Thiermann, an expert with the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health, said it was not known how the virus entered Nigeria, but migratory waterfowl likely played a role because the country is on a "major flyway."

No cases of H5N1 bird flu have been reported elsewhere in Africa, and the outbreak appears to be restricted to birds, he said.

"The significance is that it's a completely new continent that we need to be looking at," Thiermann said.

Sub-Saharan Africa, with about 600 million of the world's poorest people, is particularly ill-suited to deal with a major health crisis. With weak and impoverished government institutions in regions where many people keep chickens for food, experts say any mass killings — often a first step in controlling bird flu — will be difficult to pull off.

China, meanwhile, announced another human case of the disease — a 26-year-old woman — bringing to at least 11 the number of people in China who have been infected. Two have died.

The World Health Organization said Nigeria has about 140 million poultry and the country's overtaxed veterinary services need international help. It called on other African countries to act quickly against any suspected outbreaks.

"If the situation in Nigeria gets out of control, it will have a devastating impact on the poultry population in the region," said Samuel Jutzi, head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's Animal Production and Health Division. "It will seriously damage the livelihoods of millions of people and it will increase the exposure of humans to the virus."