Nigeria, human BF confirmed

[Dutchy]

Nigeria testing 14 human samples for bird flu
29 Jan 2007 09:15:23 GMT


More ABUJA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Nigeria is testing samples from 14 people, including three who died, for possible bird flu, a senior official at the health ministry said on Monday.

Samples from a mother and daughter who died in Lagos and a woman who died in remote eastern Taraba state after suffering flu-like symptoms are being tested to determine whether the H5N1 strain of bird flu was present.

Authorities gave conflicting information about the mother and daughter, however. Lola Sadiq, in charge of monitoring Nigeria's bird flu crisis at the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in Abuja, said they had tested negative for bird flu. (??)
She did not have any information about the Taraba case.

Abdulsalam Nasidi, in charge of efforts to prevent bird flu from spreading to humans in Nigeria, said the three had tested positive for flu which is very common at this time of year due to the seasonal harmattan wind.

"The tests will show if it was common flu or bird flu," Nasisdi said, adding that they were being conducted at a laboratory in the capital Abuja. The other 11 samples are from people who came into contact with those who died.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, was the first on the continent to detect bird flu a year ago. The virus has spread to 17 of the 36 states but no human case has been confirmed so far.

Bird flu has killed at least 163 people around the world, according to the most recent figures from the WHO. There are fears it could spark a pandemic in which millions could die if it mutates into a form that passes easily from person to person.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2948264.htm

[Dutchy]

WHO says Nigeria bird flu tests prove negative

29 Jan 2007 11:45:39 GMT


(Updates with comment from WHO in Geneva)

ABUJA/GENEVA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday that initial tests on samples from 14 Nigerians, including three people who died, showed they were not victims of bird flu.
In Geneva, a WHO official said all 14 samples had tested negative for the H5 strain of flu but positive for another type. Samples from the 14 have been sent to London for a second check, the U.N. agency said.

A Nigerian official gave a different account, saying he was awaiting the outcome of tests at a laboratory in the capital Abuja.

Samples have been taken from three people who died of unknown causes and 11 people who came into contact with them.

The H5N1 bird flu virus remains primarily an animal disease but can kill people who have close contact with infected birds.

It has killed 163 people around the globe since 2003 and experts fear it could spark a pandemic in which millions could die if it mutates into a form that passes easily from person to person.

The samples include ones from a mother and daughter who died in Lagos and from a woman who died in remote eastern Taraba state after suffering flu-like symptoms.

Abdulsalam Nasidi, in charge of efforts to prevent bird flu from spreading to humans in Nigeria, said samples from the three people who died had tested positive for flu which is very common at this time of year due to the seasonal harmattan wind.

"The tests will show if it was common flu or bird flu," Nasidi said.

The director of the Abuja lab could not be reached for comment.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, was the first on the continent to detect bird flu a year ago. The virus has spread to 17 of the 36 states but no human case has been confirmed so far.

Experts warn surveillance in Nigeria may not be completely effective because of poor health services. Many Nigerians die young of a variety of diseases and few families can afford the luxury of a doctor to determine the cause of death.

Nigeria is one of three countries regarded by experts as the weakest areas in the global attempt to stem infections among birds.

The disease was first discovered in the northern state of Kaduna a year ago and despite measures such as culling, quarantine and a transport ban on live birds it spread quickly across the country.

Millions of Nigerians keep live poultry in their backyards and in the absence of refrigerators in most households, birds are transported and sold live and killed just before eating.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29137446.htm

[Dutchy]

Nigeria to make announcement on bird flu in humans

Wed 31 Jan 2007 10:35:20 GMT

LAGOS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Nigeria will release the results of tests made on 14 suspected human cases of bird flu later on Wednesday, an official said.

Africa's most populous country, Nigeria was the first on the continent to detect the deadly H5N1 virus in poultry last year but it has not had a confirmed human case.

Scientists declined to comment on the results of four rounds of tests concluded on Tuesday on 14 samples, taken from three people who died of flu symptoms and 11 who came into contact with them.

"The minister of information will make a press release later today," said Abdulsalam Nasidi, a bird flu expert at the Health Ministry.

One scientist involved in the testing said after three rounds of tests that some had produced a positive result for H5N1, but the results were inconsistent and the findings were unreliable. He has declined to comment on the result of the fourth round of testing which ended on Tuesday.

Nigeria is due to send the same samples to two foreign laboratories for confirmation of local findings.

The Mill Hill laboratory in London is one of WHO's Collaborating Centres which meet the U.N. health agency's "gold standard" for testing of samples for the deadly H5N1 virus.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu remains primarily an animal disease but it can kill people who come into close contact with infected birds.

It has killed 164 people around the globe since 2003 and experts fear it could spark a deadly pandemic if it mutates into a form that passes easily from person to person.

Nigeria detected bird flu in chicken in northern Kaduna state a year ago. The virus has since spread to 17 of Nigeria's 36 states despite measures such as culling, quarantine and bans on transporting live poultry.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/Cris...-R5-Alertnet-6

[Dutchy]

DEAD NIGERIAN GIRL TESTED POSITIVE FOR H5N1 BIRD FLU -

31 Jan 2007 12:56:55 GMT
Source: Reuters

DEAD NIGERIAN GIRL TESTED POSITIVE FOR H5N1 BIRD FLU - INFORMATION MINISTER

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31165269.htm

[Dutchy]

Dead Nigerian woman tests positive for bird flu

31 Jan 2007 13:07:11 GMT


LAGOS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A Nigerian woman who died of flu symptoms has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, Information Minister Frank Nweke said on Wednesday, the first reported death from the virus in the West African country.

The woman from Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos is the first confirmed human victim of the H5N1 bird flu in sub-Saharan Africa, after the deadly disease was first found in poultry in Nigeria last February.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31165269.htm

[Dutchy]

Four suspected bird flu deaths in Nigeria, official says

31 Jan 2007 13:35:23 GMT

LAGOS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Four Nigerians are suspected to have died from H5N1 bird flu, but tests on three of the victims were inconclusive and the virus was confirmed scientifically in only one case, a senior health official said on Wednesday.

Abdulsalam Nasidi, a bird flu expert at the health ministry, said the three inconclusive cases were the mother of the confirmed case in Lagos, a poultry worker in northeastern Taraba state and one person in far northeastern Borno state.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31736640.htm

[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01...Confirmed.html

[HenryN]

Nigeria Reports Bird Flu Cases in Humans

(AP) -- Health officials reported Nigeria's first cases of bird flu in humans Wednesday, saying one woman had died and a family member had been infected but was responding to treatment.

The 22-year-old woman died Jan. 17 in Lagos, Information Minister Frank Nweke said. He added that the government was boosting surveillance across Africa's most-populous nation after the infections in Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city. The World Health Organization did not immediately confirm the case. Nigerian health officials earlier said 14 human samples were being tested. Nweke made no mention of those cases Wednesday. An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu hit Nigeria last year, but no human infections had been reported until Wednesday. Until the Nigerian report, Egypt and Djibouti were the only African countries that had confirmed infections among people. Eleven people have died in Egypt. The bird flu virus remains hard for humans to catch, but health experts fear H5N1 may mutate into a form that could spread easily among humans and possibly kill millions in a flu pandemic. Amid a new H5N1 outbreak reported in recent weeks in Nigeria's north, hundreds of miles from Lagos, health workers have begun killing poultry. Bird flu is generally not harmful to humans, but the H5N1 virus has claimed at least 157 lives worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry in late 2003, according to the WHO. http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssen...l/16588779.htm The H5N1 strain had been confirmed in 15 of Nigeria's 36 states. By September, when the last known case of the virus was found in poultry in a farm near Nigeria's biggest city of Lagos, 915,650 birds had been slaughtered nationwide by government veterinary teams under a plan in which owners were promised compensation. However, many Nigerian farmers have yet to be reimbursed in the north of the country, and health officials fear that chicken deaths may be covered up by owners reluctant to kill their animals. Since bird flu cases were first discovered in Nigeria last year, Cameroon, Djibouti, Niger, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Burkina Faso have also reported the H5N1 strain of bird flu in birds. There are fears that it has spread even farther than is known in Africa because monitoring is difficult on a poor continent with weak infrastructure. There also is concern that millions of people with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa will be particularly vulnerable, especially in rural areas with little access to health facilities. Many people keep chickens for food, even in densely populated urban areas. By BASHIR ADIGUN, Associated Press Writer

[HenryN]

Originally Posted by niman

H2H2H

[HenryN]

Originally Posted by niman

H2H2H

H Index case dies January 4

2

H Daughter of index case dies January 17

2

H Family member responding to treatment January 31

[Theresa42]

UPDATED AT 18.30 GMT
Govt confirms female's death by bird flu
Jan 31, 2007

The Federal Government on Wednesday confirmed the death of a 22-year-old female in Lagos by the Avian bird flu. It also said that another female member of the victim's household, earlier diagnosed of the virus, is responding to treatment. Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. Frank Nweke however, has said there is no cause for alarm as the Federal Government was strengthening surveillance efforts across the country with particular emphasis on monitoring of human contacts with poultry populations to prevent animal-to-human and human-to-human infection. He said that the surveillance system was also being extended to cover all health institutions, including private facilities. In a press statement, Nweke said the committee considered the report of a 13-man team of virologists and laboratory experts that investigated the suspected human cases of Avian Influenza (AI) infection in Lagos.

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/breaking_news/article01

[HenryN]

Bird flu claims first human life in West Africa

Lagos.– Nigeria confirmed the first human death from the H5N1 virus in sub-Saharan Africa on Wednesday after tests on a dead woman showed she had contracted bird flu. The 22-year-old died after feathering and disemboweling an infected chicken. She was from Lagos, the commercial capital of Africa's most populous country, Information Minister Frank Nweke said. Test on three other victims, one of them the woman's mother, were inconclusive. Nigeria was the first African nation to detect the H5N1 virus in poultry last year and had conducted tests on 14 people suspected of having the virus. Although bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, experts fear it could mutate into a form that could pass easily among humans, possibly killing millions. In Africa, 11 people have died in Egypt from bird flu since 2003 and there has been a single non-fatal human case in Djibouti, in the eastern Horn. The H5N1 virus has killed at least 164 people worldwide, most of them in Asia, and Indonesia has the world's highest death toll - 63. Six Indonesians have died in 2007 from bird flu, which is endemic in poultry in most of the country's provinces, and Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta said this flare-up meant bird flu would now be categorized as a national disaster. This will trigger additional funding for a focused fight against the virus.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=22017

[HenryN]

Deaths Caused by Avian Flu Confirmed in Lagos

From Chuka Oditah in Abuja, 02.01.2007


The multi-sectoral steering committee on Avian Influenza in Nigeria has confirmed that the deaths of two Nigerian women who died during the Christmas holidays in Lagos were caused by the dreaded avian flu virus.
In a statement issued yesterday, the committee said that an emergency meeting at the Avian Influenza Crisis Management Centre was held where it considered a report of virologists and laboratory experts that investigated the suspected human cases of Avian Influenza (AI) infection in Lagos.
The results of the tests conducted by Nigerian scientists using in-country laboratory facilities confirmed the first human case of Avian Influenza fatality in a 22-year old female who died in Lagos, Nigeria on January 17, 2007.
Another female member of the victim's household, earlier diagnosed with the clinical presentation of Avian Influenza virus (A/H5), is however responding to treatment.
The committiee stated that ìas demanded by international protocol the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) have received samples from the fatal case and contacts for independent assessment and confirmation. The outcome of their investigations will be made available as soon as it is available.”
Allaying concerns over the possibility of a pandemic, the committee assured that the Federal Government is strengthening surveillance efforts across the country with particular emphasis on monitoring human contacts with poultry populations to prevent animal-to-human and human-to-human infection. The surveillance system is also being extended to cover all health institutions including private facilities. Public health containment actions, especially risk communication, emergency medical care and infection control measures are being put in place. Training of personnel in the areas of laboratory, surveillance and clinical management is also receiving priority,î added the committee
It urged the general public to immediately report sick chickens to local veterinary and health officials, thoroughly cook chicken meat, wash hands thoroughly after touching chicken and/or other poultry products.
Also state and local governments were advised to strengthen their various committees on the management of Avian Influenza and also restrict intra and inter state movement of poultry as a containment measure.
Poultry were workers further advised to strictly observe appropriate biosafety and biosecurity measures.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.p...ter_friendly=1

[Mellie]

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01...Confirmed.html
Qinghai H5N1 Confirmed in Cluster in Lagos Nigeria
Recombinomics Commentary
January 30, 2007

Four Nigerians are suspected to have died from H5N1 bird flu, but tests on three of the victims were inconclusive and the virus was confirmed scientifically in only one case, a senior health official said on Wednesday.

Abdulsalam Nasidi, a bird flu expert at the health ministry, said the three inconclusive cases were the mother of the confirmed case in Lagos, a poultry worker in northeastern Taraba state and one person in far northeastern Borno state.

The above comments describe four suspect H5N1 cases in Nigeria. The confirmed cases (22F) is the daughter of a suspect case. The disease onset dates strongly suggest the index case infected the confirmed case. This cluster was in Lagos, Nigeria.

The other two suspect cases are a distinct locations in Nigeria, suggested human infections may be markedly higher than the four cases described above. Poultry outbreaks have been widespread in Nigeria.

The confirmed case is the first in western Africa. However, sequences of H5N1 from Nigeria, as well as neighboring countries (Niger, Ivory Coast, Burkino Faso, and Cameroon) support multiple introductions of H5N1 into the region. However, many of these sequences carry Qinghai polymorphisms that are found in human and poultry isolates in Egypt and Djibouti, raising serious questions about human H5N1 infections in western Africa.

The above confirmation suggests a significant commitment is needed. Samples have been sent to Mill Hill in London, and the Capua lab in Rome for confirmation. However, the inconclusive results suggests on site testing would be useful.

In the past, the WHO has set up a mobile lab in Azerbaijan, with personal and technical support by NAMRU-3. The description and location of the suspect cases dictate a similar response. Recently the NAMRU-3 lab discovered the Tamiflu resistance marker, N294S, in a family cluster in Gharbiya, Egypt.

The high case fatality rate in Egypt and Nigeria also raise questions about widespread Tamiflu resistance, which can also be addressed by mobile labs at appropriate locations.

The suspect case in Borno state is near Lake Chad, which is adjacent to Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon.

[Laidback Al]

WHO UPDATE

Avian influenza - situation in Nigeria
31 January 2007
The government of Nigeria has announced the death from suspected avian influenza infection in a 22-year-old female from Lagos. She died on 16 January 2007. The mother of the 22-year-old died on 4 January with similar symptoms.
Preliminary tests on the samples from the 22-year-old were positive for influenza A/H5. Samples have now been sent to a WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza for confirmation. Results are expected shortly. No samples were taken from the mother.
Contacts have been followed up and have shown no symptoms at twice the incubation period for avian influenza infection. Samples have been tested from these contacts as well as from three other suspected cases, including one fatal case and have all been negative in preliminary tests. These samples have also been sent to a WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza.
It is important to reiterate that properly cooked poultry meat is safe to consume when cooked at temperatures at or above 70°C in all parts, until none of the meat is red. There is no epidemiological evidence to indicate that people have been infected with H5N1 virus following consumption of properly cooked poultry or eggs. The greatest risk of exposure to the virus is through the handling and slaughter of live infected poultry. More detailed recommendations can be found here.
WHO is working with the government of Nigeria to monitor the situation.

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_01_31a/en/index.html

[HenryN]

FG Confirms Human Bird Flu in Nigeria

Daily Trust (Abuja)
NEWS
February 1, 2007
Posted to the web February 1, 2007

By Andrew Walker
Abuja

A Nigerian woman who died of flu symptoms has tested positive to the H5N1 bird flu virus, Information Minister, Frank Nweke, said on Wednesday, the first reported death from the virus in West Africa.
Three other deaths are suspected to be from bird flu, but are awaiting confirmation.
The woman from Lagos is the first confirmed human victim of bird flu in sub-Saharan Africa, after the deadly disease was first found in poultry in Nigeria a year ago.
"Last night, our team of 13 scientists were able to conclusively identify the case of avian influenza in a 22-year-old female who died in Lagos," Nweke told a news conference.
The woman was one of 14 people from whom samples were taken for tests that were concluded on Tuesday. Four of the samples were from people who died. Samples are now being sent to foreign laboratories for confirmation.
The victim of the confir-med case is among the other three suspected fatalities. The other people who died are a poultry worker from Taraba state and a man from Borno state
Nigeria is one of the three countries regarded by experts as the weakest areas in the global attempt to stem the spread of the virus.
Bird flu has killed at least 164 people around the globe since it reemerged in Asia in 2003, according to the most recent figures from the World Health Organisation. The death toll includes 11 fatalities in Egypt.
Officials in Maiduguri said they culled 1000 birds as a precaution after suspected outbreaks in six farms. Samples were sent to the Veterinary Research Institute (VOM), in Plateau state and results are being awaited.
Tuesday, Daily Trust reported a WHO spokesman in Geneva who said the samples had tested negative for H5N1. That report was based on an international agency report from Geneva. By Wednesday morning, the news agency had corrected the report to say the samples were "inconclusive". The Nigerian authorities had declined comments until yesterday.
Dr Abdulsalam Nasidi, Ministry of Health official, said the woman victim from Lagos died not as a result of eating chicken infected with the disease. He said: "She died as a result of contact with the birds."
He said it will be difficult to contract the disease through eating as our mode of cooking is different from the western pattern, but advised that all birds must be properly cooked before consumption.
Dr Nasidi said his commi-ttee will collaborate with the health ministry to regulate the influx of chickens into Lagos.

http://allafrica.com/stories/printab...702010426.html

[HenryN]

Nigeria chicken markets open a day after first human bird-flu death
The Associated PressPublished: January 31, 2007
LAGOS, Nigeria: Young men standing in pools of gore beheaded chickens in Nigeria's biggest city on Thursday as marketgoers expressed fears of more bird-flu infections after the first human death, although no health panic was apparent.
Officials reported the first human fatality from bird flu in Africa's most-populous nation on Tuesday and the news filled newspapers and radio waves a day later, but Nigerians who are focused on escaping poverty showed only a few frayed nerves.
"Here, our relations with chickens are cordial. We keep them in cages in the backyard, sometimes up to 20 of them," said Philip Selli, a 32-year old business man in one of Lagos' main chicken markets.
"I'm worried about bird flu. I'm only going to eat the chickens in good health, not the slow-walking ones, the ones with fluid coming from their noses," he said.
Selli, like others, said the first bird-flu fatality was unlikely to interrupt business in a city of 14 million people where most residents live in crowded slums, often together with poultry that is an important food source.
Today in Africa & Middle East
Battle shows strength of splintering militias in Iraq U.S. finds waste and fraud in Iraqi reconstruction projects Safety concerns halt trials of HIV microbicide
Experts say ingesting well-cooked chicken poses no health risk, but that close contact with sick birds — like plucking and cleaning chickens — can transmit the disease.
There was no sign that the Jan. 17 death of the 22-year old student in Lagos had set off any kind of health panic. Health officials were investigating other possible cases.
Under a highway overpass, chicken vendors carrying upside-down birds bound by their feet walked through the market situated .
Shirtless young men swinging machetes plucked and beheaded the birds, standing in blood and pouring buckets of it down an embankment into a trash-clogged brook where white pilot birds dipped their beaks.
The chicken vendors said they would continue to sell their product, each of which sells for about US$7 — far more than the average wage for Nigerian workers.
An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu hit Nigeria last year, but no human infections had been reported until Wednesday. Until the Nigerian report, Egypt and Djibouti were the only African countries that had confirmed infections among people. Eleven people have died in Egypt.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...a-Bird-Flu.php

[HenryN]

Some Nigerians Unfazed by Bird Flu-Related Death

February 01, 2007
VOA Top Stories, VOA, VOA Africa
By voanews
The Nigerian government’s announcement earlier this week that tests confirmed the country’s first human death from the bird flu virus appears to have left Lagos residents unfazed. Sarah Simpson reports for VOA it was business as usual at Lagos’ poultry market Thursday.
In Breweries Market in Lagos, Biola Saheed haggles over the price of the flapping chicken the young market boy holds by its feet. Around them other customers, despite recent reports of a human case of bird flu, are waiting to purchase other chickens.
The Nigerian government said Wednesday tests confirmed that a young woman from Lagos died from the H5N1 virus after plucking an infected chicken for cooking. She is believed to be the first victim of the bird flu virus in Nigeria.
The World Health Organization has said samples from the dead woman have been sent to a London laboratory for testing.
At the Lagos market, Saheed has heard about the young woman’s death. Though she admits she would not be able to recognize a bird infected with avian flu, she says she is not worried as she has a special way of preparing chicken.
“The way I can cook mine is different from others, you understand? Like me if I get home now I kill the chicken, I have to use lime to clean everything to, you know, clean the body before I can cook it. That will make it nice,” she said.
Another customer, Sodangi Dogari, who is 35 years old and a trained vet, says the government should educate people better about bird flu, so like him, they can recognize a sick bird so they do not buy them.
He said, “I buy chicken, I eat chicken and I take my time to buy chicken and know the type of chicken I am buying.”
One vendor at the market explains a sick bird is easy to spot. He says ill birds look lethargic; normally red cockscombs turn a bluish black when sick and when the birds are held upside down fluid runs from their beaks.
According to the World Health Organization, eating well cooked chicken meat does not carry a risk of bird flu infection for humans. However, handling live or dead chickens infected with bird flu or living in close quarters with infected birds, is risky, the WHO warns.
Young boys in ragged clothes and flip-flops earn money slaughtering, plucking and chopping birds at the back of the market. They have no access to clean water or soap to wash the blood that covers their hands and shirt-fronts.
At least 164 people have died of bird flu worldwide according to the World Health Organization. The health expert’s greatest fear is that the virus will mutate and be able to jump from one infected human to another, causing a global pandemic.
Dr. Marcus Eruaga is a general practitioner in the Lagos neighborhood where the woman who died of bird flu had lived. He says that people in the area have so many other pressing daily problems that they are unlikely to have paid much attention to the bird flu virus.
“They might not have heard about bird flu because I believe there are other major primary issues confronting them, especially the down-trodden ones,” he said. “The struggle for daily survival, for their food for their meals, for health care, water etc. etc.”
Nigeria reported its first case of bird flu in February last year. The virus has spread to 17 of Nigeria’s 36 states despite culling and quarantine measures.

http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/02/01/...related-death/

[HenryN]

Nigeria tests another 11 human samples for bird flu
1 hour, 3 minutes ago


Health officials in Nigeria, which this week announced its first human death from bird flu, have said they were testing 11 fresh human samples gathered from the nation's economic capital Lagos.
"The new samples have links with the initial 14 which we have tested. Some of them have interraction with the deceased," the director of public health of the federal health ministry, Abdullahi Nasidi, told AFP.
Nigeria's first bird-flu fatality was a 22-year-old woman who died on January 17 in Lagos, the biggest urban metropolis in Africa, after helping pluck and disembowel a chicken her family bought.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday in Geneva that it hoped to have results within days from tests on samples from the woman who is believed to have died from bird flu.
Preliminary tests have shown that the woman was positive for H5 type influenza A, WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said Friday.
He said a WHO-approved laboratory in Britain was testing to see if the 'N1' component was present, which would confirm Nigeria's first human case of the most virulent strain of bird flu, H5N1.
"We're not contradicting what the Nigerian ministry of health said, but for us it's important to have the test results," the spokesman told AFP.
"It's possible we could get the results today, they could be delayed for a couple of days," he added, while also raising the possibility that the samples might be flawed and could not yield a result.
The Nigerian government has said it would reinforce surveillance measures with a particular emphasis on monitoring human contact with poultry flocks.
Information Minister Frank Nweke promised to step up controls on hospitals, including private ones, and urged the population to alert the authorities to any fowl presenting symptoms of bird flu.
Radio and television stations across the country have this week mounted sensitisation blitz as part of government measures to curb the spread of the disease, residents said.
Health officials are also telling the population to eat only well-cooked poultry meat and eggs, even though none of the 160 deaths from bird flu worldwide has been traced to the consumption of meat from an infected fowl.
Authorities in Lagos said that around 700,000 birds have been culled since the disease was found in the city last year.
A government hospital has been especially dedicated for the treatment of those infected, Lagos health ministry permanent secretary Jide Idris said in a televised interview.
Three neighbouring countries -- Benin, Niger and Cameroon -- have said they are stepping up border controls.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070202...HE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

[Dutchy]

Nigeria's first human death from bird flu confirmed by WHO, says minister

February 3, 2007

LAGOS, Nigeria: Nigeria's first case of a human death from the deadly bird flu virus has been confirmed by the World Health Organization, the country's information minister said Saturday.

Lab tests conducted by WHO in London confirmed initial Nigerian tests that had indicated the 22-year-old woman was infected with H5N1 when she died on Jan. 17, Information Minister Frank Nweke Jr. said in a statement. He did not say when the London tests were conducted or when the results were conveyed to the government.

Health officials in Nigeria reported several human cases of bird flu on Wednesday, saying one woman had died and a family member was infected but responding to treatment.

With WHO's confirmation, Nigeria's public health authorities are now focused on finding out if any other people have been infected and taking measures to prevent further spread, Nweke said.

"It bears restating, therefore, that H5N1 is widespread and continuing in the poultry population in Nigeria," he said, with sick birds found in 19 of Nigeria's 36 states.

Nigeria reported Africa's first cases of H5N1 a year ago. Cases have since been reported in Cameroon, Djibouti, Niger, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Burkina Faso, and human casualties in Egypt and Djibouti.

There are fears that it may have spread even farther, monitoring is difficult with Africa's weak infrastructure.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...a-Bird-Flu.php

[Anne]

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_02_03/en/index.html


Avian influenza - situation in Nigeria - update
3 February 2007
The government of Nigeria has announced today the presence of A/H5N1 avian influenza virus in a 22-year-old deceased female from Lagos. The initial positive test findings from a laboratory in Nigeria were confirmed by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in London (see previous report). Further investigations are under way to identify the source of her infection.
All samples from contacts of the deceased have tested negative by the WHO Collaborating Centre.
H5N1 virus has been identified in poultry outbreaks in Nigeria and similar to other affected countries, sporadic cases of human infection with avian influenza are not unexpected. WHO is working with the government of Nigeria to carry out intensive surveillance and reports of additional suspected cases may occur as people with influenza-like symptoms seek medical advice.
The H5N1 avian influenza virus is not transmitted to humans through properly prepared and cooked food. Cases of human infection with H5N1 have frequently been linked to the home slaughter and subsequent handling of diseased or dead birds prior to cooking. These practices represent the highest risk to human infection and are the most important to avoid. When handling raw poultry or live or dead birds, it is imperative to disinfect hands and surfaces with soap and water. Consumers also need to be sure that during the cooking process, poultry reaches temperatures of at least 70°C in all parts and that eggs are fully cooked throughout. Detailed recommendations concerning food safety are available here.

[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02...O_Confirm.html

[Mingus]

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content...ntentid=103245

CattleNetwork_Today 2/5/2007 8:23:00 AM
Nigeria's 1st Bird Flu Death Confirmed By WHO – Minister Health officials in Nigeria reported several human cases of bird flu on Wednesday, saying one woman had died and a family member was infected but responding to treatment. With WHO's confirmation, Nigeria's public health authorities are now focused on finding out if any other people have been infected and taking measures to prevent further spread, Nweke said. "It bears restating, therefore, that H5N1 is widespread and continuing in the poultry population in Nigeria," he said, with sick birds found in 19 of Nigeria's 36 states. Nigeria reported Africa's first cases of H5N1 a year ago. Cases have since been reported in Cameroon, Djibouti, Niger, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Burkina Faso, and human casualties in Egypt and Djibouti. There are fears that it may have spread even farther, monitoring is difficult with Africa's weak infrastructure. Bird flu has killed at least 164 people worldwide, though most victims were infected directly by sick birds. The virus is difficult for humans to catch, though scientists fear a mutation could make it easier for the virus to be transmitted between people, possibly sparking a pandemic. Source: Dow Jones Newswires

[Mingus]

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.as...r=bird&Cr1=flu


Human bird flu death confirmed in Nigeria, first in sub-Saharan Africa – UN

5 February 2007 – The United Nations health agency has confirmed a fatal human case of bird flu in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, only the second incidence of the H5N1 virus in humans in the sub-Saharan region, and is working with the Nigerian authorities to identify the source of infection.
All samples from contacts of the victim, a 22-year-old woman from Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, have so far tested negative, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said. The women’s infection with the H5N1 virus was confirmed by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in London.
The agency noted that H5N1 has been identified in poultry outbreaks in Nigeria and, as in other affected countries, sporadic cases of human infection are not unexpected. The only other sub-Saharan African country to report human bird flu is Djibouti with one non-fatal case. North of the Sahara only Egypt has had human cases – 19 with 11 of them fatal.
There have so far been 271 confirmed cases worldwide, 165 of them fatal, the vast majority in South-East Asia. Ever since the first human case of H5N1, linked to widespread poultry outbreaks in Viet Nam and Thailand, was reported in January 2004, UN health officials have warned that the virus could evolve into a human pandemic if it mutates into a form which could transmit easily between people.
The so-called Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920 is estimated to have killed from 20 million to 40 million people worldwide. More than 200 million birds have died worldwide from either the virus or preventive culling.
There is one other suspected death from the virus in Nigeria and WHO is working with the Government to carry out intensive surveillance. Reports of additional suspected cases may occur as people with influenza-like symptoms seek medical advice.
The agency stressed that H5N1 is not transmitted to humans through properly prepared and cooked food. Cases of human infection have frequently been linked to the home slaughter and subsequent handling of diseased or dead birds prior to cooking and these practices represent the highest risk of human infection. When handling raw poultry or live or dead birds, it is imperative to disinfect hands and surfaces with soap and water, WHO said. Consumers also need to be sure that during the cooking process, poultry reaches temperatures of at least 70 centigrade in all parts and that eggs are fully cooked throughout.

[Dutchy]

Bird flu virus tests on two more Nigerian deaths negative so far

ABUJA (AFP) - Tests on samples from two people feared to have died of bird flu in Nigeria have so far proved negative, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found, according to a senior Nigerian health official.


"The WHO said the two samples are negative but that does not preclude further investigation", Abdullahi Nasidi, the federal director of public health, told AFP.

Nigeria last week reported its first human bird flu death and laboratory tests carried out in Britain on Saturday confirmed that a 22-year-old woman who died in Lagos on January 17 weeks after plucking and disembowelling a chicken was indeed a victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

One of the two people whose samples have so far tested negative is the late mother of the young woman who died. The other is a woman from Taraba State, bordering on Cameroon in eastern Nigeria, health officials have said.

Meanwhile, a team of WHO epidemiologists was in Nigeria Monday working with federal health and agriculture officials following confirmation of the country's first human victim of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

"The two-man team, both epidemiologists, who arrived in Nigeria at the weekend are already working with officials of the federal ministry of health," said an official of the world health body, who requested anonymity.

"While in Nigeria, they will assess the avian flu situation in the country and assist the Nigerian officials in terms of surveillance," the official added.

Health experts in Lagos warned that human cases in Nigeria could be difficult to contain given the poverty in which many Nigerians live and the rampant corruption that makes measures and bans difficult to enforce.

Immediately after the announcement of the deadly case in Lagos, Benin, Cameroon and Niger intensified surveillance at their borders.

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza was first detected in Nigeria in a poultry farm in Jaji, outside the northern city of Kaduna, in February 2006, from where it spread to other parts of the country.

Nigeria's poultry population is estimated at 140 million. Backyard farmers account for 60 percent of all poultry producers, commercial farmers for 25 percent and semi-commercial farmers for 15 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070205...a_070205192341