Nigeria: Experts investigate bird flu infection in Nigerians

[Snowy Owl]

Nigeria: Issues of the day :
Experts investigate bird flu infection in Nigerians
http://allafrica.com/stories/200701300129.html

Vanguard (Lagos)
January 30, 2007
Posted to the web January 30, 2007
Chioma Obinna
Lagos

Experts on bird flu are increasingly worried that Nigeria risks becoming a permanent host to the avian flu virus, even as the Avian Flu Crisis Management Centre (AFCMC) is investigating suspected cases of Avian Influenza infections in humans in Nigeria.

Minister of Information, Mr. Frank Nweke who disclosed this in a statement made available to Good Health Weekly said preliminary analyses of tissue samples obtained from the suspected victims have tested positive to Influenza Virus Type A, which is the same virus that causes common cold, rampant during the Harmattan.

He further hinted that confirmatory tests are in progress to establish the exact strain of the virus and the Federal government will make further statements as soon as the results are received.

Meanwhile, Nigerians are warned to restrict contact with poultry products.

The public are also advised to report instances of unusually high mortality of birds immediately to the Avian Flu Crisis Management Centre on the following numbers: - 0803 700 6849,- 0803 704 4433 or contact the nearest Veterinary/ Health Officials.

Recently, a fresh outbreak of avian influenza was confirmed in three states of Edo, Kwara and Sokoto with resurgence in some other states.

Since the avian flu outbreak was first detected in February 2006 millions of birds may have died or become infected in the country. This has also continued to cause severe hardship for farmers, who have had very little support from the government.

In recognition of these problems posed by the avian flu resurgence in some states of the country, the Federal Ministry of Health last week in Lagos held a sensitization workshop for media executives tagged "Risk and Crisis Reporting for Media Chief Executives." The workshop was graced by experts on bird flu and cream of media executives. The workshop was also to explore and exploit avenues for collaboration in the control and containment of avian influenza in the country.

Said Nweke: "It poses a grave threat to human health on account of its high mortality rate among victims as well as the scary scenario of human pandemic.

Disclosing that government has been proactive in its commitments and adoption of specific interventions involving a multi disciplinary approach, Nweke said the disease has spread to 17 states of the country.

The states are Anambra, Bauchi, Borno, Edo Enugu, FCT, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kastina, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe.

Component Coordinator (Animal Health) Avian Influenza Control and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Response Project (AICP) Mohammed Sai'du on the "Status of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Nigeria" disclosed that the government has paid up N55,891,720.00 compensations to the affected farmers.

He noted that the country has about 140 million poultry population of which they have not been able to determine the entry point of the virus into the country or its pattern of spread.

Sai'du who expressed fear for the resurgence of infection stressed the urgent need to expand laboratory capacity and supplies in the country.

Federal Ministry of Health representative, Dr. Shuaib Belgore who noted the pressure on the health system said since the outbreak health capacity and human and financial resources have been overstressed by the demands of the disease adding those laboratory confirmations of human H5N1 infections is technically challenging, expensive and demanding on human resources.

The World Bank gave Nigeria a credit of $50 million in support of the fight against the virus. The donation which was in three components, comprised of $18.25 million allocated to human health, animal health got $29.20 million while information was given $4.08 million.

[Snowy Owl]

Nigeria: WHO
Nigeria Bird Flu Tests On Humans Negative
http://allafrica.com/stories/200701300061.html

This Day (Lagos)
January 30, 2007
Posted to the web January 30, 2007
Lagos

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday 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 would be sent to a reference laboratory in London for more checks, said David Olaleye, a WHO doctor taking part in the testing at a laboratory in Abuja.

"We have done two rounds of tests over the weekend and those were negative ... Today we are re-running another round of tests and I am waiting for the results," Olaleye said.

He added that arrangements had been made to transport the samples to the London laboratory today.

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.

Nigeri 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.

Experts warn surveillance in Nigeria may not be completely effective because of poor health services. Nigeria is one of three countries regarded by experts as the weakest areas in the global attempt to stem infections of 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.

[wdcare]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30365933.htm

Nigeria runs new bird flu tests on human samples
30 Jan 2007 09:46:22 GMT
Source: Reuters

More ABUJA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A laboratory in Nigeria was running new bird flu tests on Tuesday on samples from 14 people after earlier checks produced inconclusive results, a World Health Organisation (WHO) doctor said.

The samples are from three people who died after suffering flu-like symptoms and from 11 others who came into contact with them. Nigeria was the first African country to detect bird flu in poultry but it has not had a confirmed human case.

"The tests we ran yesterday produced inconsistent results," said David Olaleye, who is taking part in the testing at a laboratory in the capital Abuja.

Olaleye said two initial rounds of tests over the weekend had proved negative but results from Monday's third round of tests had produced a pattern that was "unreliable" and did not allow him to make a clear call on the outcome.

"That is why we have pulled out a fresh batch of samples from the same people and we have started a completely new set of tests," he said.

Gregory Hartl, a spokesman at the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, said tests carried out in a laboratory in Nigeria on Saturday and Sunday had been "consistent" in showing no H5 flu virus. "That is already a good sign," he added.

Hartl said further tests would be conducted at the WHO's Collaborating Centre for influenza in London. "The samples are being sent today (from Nigeria). We won't know for a few days," he said.

The three people who died were a mother and daughter from Lagos in the southwest and a woman from remote Taraba state in the east.

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, Africa's most populous country, 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

[rockyman]

I didn't know Influenza A causes "the common cold"...I guess I need to start getting my medical information from the Minister of Information

[HenryN]

Originally Posted by wdcare

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30365933.htm

Nigeria runs new bird flu tests on human samples
30 Jan 2007 09:46:22 GMT
Source: Reuters


"The tests we ran yesterday produced inconsistent results," said David Olaleye, who is taking part in the testing at a laboratory in the capital Abuja.

Olaleye said two initial rounds of tests over the weekend had proved negative but results from Monday's third round of tests had produced a pattern that was "unreliable" and did not allow him to make a clear call on the outcome.

"That is why we have pulled out a fresh batch of samples from the same people and we have started a completely new set of tests," he said.

Test that go from negative to positive are usually positive.

[HenryN]

Commentary at

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

[Mellie]

Tests Equivocal on Qinghai H5N1 Cluster in Lagos Nigeria
Recombinomics Commentary
January 30, 2007

"The tests we ran yesterday produced inconsistent results," said David Olaleye, who is taking part in the testing at a laboratory in the capital Abuja.

Olaleye said two initial rounds of tests over the weekend had proved negative but results from Monday's third round of tests had produced a pattern that was "unreliable" and did not allow him to make a clear call on the outcome.

"That is why we have pulled out a fresh batch of samples from the same people and we have started a completely new set of tests," he said.

The above comments raise concerns on H5N1 in patients in Nigeria. H5N1 false negatives are common. The above comments suggest that a third test of samples from three patients and contacts has produced a positive result. Prior media reports indicated that influenza A was confirmed in the three fatal cases, and an alternate serotype has not been described.

Recent reports indicate that H5N1 in Nigerian poultry is widespread. The re-emergence in Nigeria parallels the re-emergence in Egypt, which has reported human cases this season and last season.

All H5N1 in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is the Qinghai strain (Clade 2.2). Several polymorphisms in Egyptian isolates are also in Nigerian isolates. Moreover, wild birds that migrate through Egypt winter in western African countries. Last season H5N1 was confirmed in Nigeria, Niger, Ivory Coast, Burkino Faso, and Cameroon in western Africa. Similarly, H5N1 was in African countries neighboring Egypt (Sudan and Djibouti), but a human infection was only reported in Djibouti.

Recent cluster members in Egypt had the Tamiflu resistance polymorphism, N294S. This marker was present in samples collected prior to Tamiflu treatment, raising concerns that N294S is circulation in Qinghai H5N1 in migratory birds.

More information on the testing of patients and birds in Nigeria would be useful.

[Toaster2]

They are testing new samples - from the three dead people or from the 14 others ???

[hawkeye]

Nigeria keeps mum on new human bird flu tests
Tue 30 Jan 2007 20:02:30 GMT


(Recasts with more detail)

By Felix Onuah

ABUJA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A laboratory in Nigeria on Tuesday ran new tests for the deadly bird flu virus on samples from 14 people after earlier checks proved inconclusive, but health officials declined to release the results.

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

David Olaleye, a World Health Organisation scientist involved in testing at a laboratory in the capital Abuja, declined to comment on the results of Tuesday's tests on samples taken from 14 people, including three people who died.

It was the fourth round of tests on the samples and had been expected to clarify whether the H5N1 virus was present. Two initial tests over the weekend proved negative, but results from a third round on Monday produced a pattern that was "unreliable" and did not allow experts to make a clear call, Olaleye said.

Olaleye said some of Monday's results had shown positive and some negative for H5N1 but that the data were not reliable. He did not comment on Tuesday's results.



LONDON

Information Minister Frank Nweke said there was no confirmed human case yet and samples from two of the three dead people, a mother and daughter in Lagos, would be sent to London for tests.

"Scientists are reviewing testing of samples taken from some people who died in Lagos who are suspected to have been killed by the human strain of the flu. Right now we are waiting for the confirmation of the findings," he said after a cabinet meeting.

Definitive results will be released on Wednesday or Thursday, he added.

The World Health Organisation in Switzerland said results in Nigeria had so far been inconclusive and they were trying to get samples to London for testing as soon as possible. Results from there will not be available for two or three days.

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. (Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon in Abuja, Tom Ashby in Lagos)

[HenryN]

Nigeria sends blood samples of avian flu victims to London, Rome By Alli Hakeem


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday January 30, 2007 By Alli Hakeem,
Abuja- Nigeria sent blood samples of suspected human
victims of avian flu to laboratories in London and Rome for
confirmation, Minister of Communications and Information, Frank Nweke
announced Tuesday.
A 22-year-old woman and her daughter died last week in Lagos in
the south-west after eating chicken.

Nweke said a presidential committee on bird flu met with
scientists in Abuja Tuesday and that the results of an autopsy on the
deceased did not confirm that they had contracted the flu.

The blood samples were sent by laboratories designated as special
centres for such tests to London and Rome to authenticate the
veracity of tests conducted locally.

Isolated cases of bird flu occurrences were recorded in Nigeria
during the hammattan (wintry) season as migratory birds from colder
regions of Europe moved south.

The minister confirmed the resurgence of the avian influenza in
Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Sokoto and Yobe states in the north; in
Anambra and Enugu States in the south-east; Plateau State and the
Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) both in central Nigeria.

Nweke expressed satisfaction that a spread was being contained as
many state governments had been culling and destroying affected
birds.

Last Wednesday, more than 3,000 birds were culled and destroyed in
Girei council area of Adamawa State in the north. Varying numbers
were also culled and destroyed in other areas where there was a
resurgence.

Nigeria reported its first outbreak of avian influenza last
February at a farm in Kaduna State, also in the north.

The flu spread to virtually all parts of the country before it was
contained, only to resurface last week.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Nigeri..._01302007.html

[HenryN]

Nigeria sends bird flu test reports on human samples to Europe

• Send by e-mail
• Save
• Print

Nigeria has sent the reports of tests conducted on 14 human samples for suspected bird flu to experts in Britain and Italy, officials said.
"The samples are being cross-checked in London and Rome," and final reports are being expected in Nigeria Wednesday or Thursday, Information Minister Frank Nweke told told reporters.
The samples include blood or tissue from at least two people who died after suffering flu-like symptoms.
Nweke said preliminary reports had not confirmed that deaths occurred as a result of bird flu.
"They had respiratory system problems and were treated for pneumonia. We are exploring the possibility they may have had contact with poultry," the acting health commissioner for Lagos state, Jide Idris, said.
The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was first reported in Nigeria in February last year. After a lull it resurfaced earlier this month among poultry in the northern states of Katsina, Sokoto, Bauchi and Kano.
Nigeria's Department of Veterinary Research said that since the start of the outbreak in February a total of 945,862 birds had been lost, 602,160 of which were culled, but no human cases have so far been reported.
Health experts worry that if human cases appeared in Nigeria they would be very difficult to contain given the poverty in which many Nigerians live and the rampant corruption that makes measures and bans difficult to enforce.

http://www.france24.com/france24Publ...10401.xoge26q4

[Niko]

Nigeria keeps mum on new human bird flu tests

By Felix OnuahTue Jan 30, 3:21 PM ET

A laboratory in Nigeria on Tuesday ran new tests for the deadly bird flu virus on samples from 14 people after earlier checks proved inconclusive, but health officials declined to release the results.

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

David Olaleye, a World Health Organization scientist involved in testing at a laboratory in the capital Abuja, declined to comment on the results of Tuesday's tests on samples taken from 14 people, including three people who died.

It was the fourth round of tests on the samples and had been expected to clarify whether the H5N1 virus was present.

Two initial tests over the weekend proved negative, but results from a third round on Monday produced a pattern that was "unreliable" and did not allow experts to make a clear call, Olaleye said.

Olaleye said some of Monday's results had shown positive and some negative for H5N1 but that the data were not reliable. He did not comment on Tuesday's results.

LONDON
Information Minister Frank Nweke said there was no confirmed human case yet and samples from two of the three dead people, a mother and daughter in Lagos, would be sent to London for tests.

"Scientists are reviewing testing of samples taken from some people who died in Lagos who are suspected to have been killed by the human strain of the flu. Right now we are waiting for the confirmation of the findings," he said after a cabinet meeting.

Definitive results will be released on Wednesday or Thursday, he added.
The World Health Organization in Switzerland said results in Nigeria had so far been inconclusive and they were trying to get samples to London for testing as soon as possible. Results from there will not be available for two or three days.

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.
(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon in Abuja, Tom Ashby in Lagos)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070130/...flu_nigeria_dc