HEALTH-BIRD FLU/IVORY COAST Bird flu spreads to third location in Ivory Coast

Record ID: 143787

  • Title: HEALTH-BIRD FLU/IVORY COAST Bird flu spreads to third location in Ivory Coast
  • Date: 14th August 2015
  • Summary: HEALTH WORKER KILLING CHICKEN
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7V80BMEDTYB9WJ4RDNGM6IGMO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: GRAPHIC WARNING - THIS EDIT CONTAINS FOOTAGE OF ANIMALS BEING KILLED
    Ivory Coast said on Friday (August 14) that H5N1 bird flu had spread to a third location in the country, in the latest in a series of outbreaks in West Africa.
    The case was discovered on a farm in the village of Modeste, about 15 km. (nine miles) east of the commercial capital Abidjan.
    Farm owner Moussa Dicko said he had lost 27,000 chickens in the outbreak, including about 7,000 slaughtered by veterinary agents.
    The H5N1 strain of the virus can be transmitted to humans, though such cases are rare.
    Jonas Oulai, vice-director of animal health at the Ministry of Animals and Fisheries, told journalists that there was cause for concern about the spread of the virus, which struck in Ivory Coast in April.
    "We thought we could contain the virus at the level of Bouake but unfortunately, we are overwhelmed. We arrived in Abidjan at the Koumassi market, and today, we are in Bassam. There really are reasons to be concerned. The virus spreads through the movement of people. The virus went as far up as Bouake, most probably from Boake to Abidjan, people and sellers transported the virus from Bouake to Abidjan and it it progressing to Grand Bassam," he said.
    "Indeed there is a risk. We cordoned off a 3 km. area that is the source, and in each of these areas once there are suspicious deaths we automatically have to get rid of the animal stock," he added.
    Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger and Ghana have been hit with the same virus over the last six months.
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