The Agriculture
Ministry has announced a ban on poultry importation from Burkina Faso where an
outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed.
The ministry has also intensified surveillance along the
country’s borders in a bid to prevent a possible outbreak of the avian
influenza disease.
The disease is reported to have killed 200,000 hens and 2,000
guinea fowls in Burkina Faso by April 13, 2015.
An outbreak of the disease has been confirmed in Nigeria too.
Poultry farmers in the country are asking government to do
more to protect them against the outbreak of the disease.
Chairman of the Poultry Farmers Association in an interview
with Joy News asked that the country’s bio-security system be checked to ensure
that in case of an outbreak farmers and consumers are protected.
Most human contractions of the avian flu are a result of
either handling dead infected birds or from contact with infected fluids.
While most wild birds mainly have only a mild form of the
H5N1 strain, once domesticated birds such as chickens or turkeys are hardest
hit and could become much more deadly because the birds are often within close
contact of one another.
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