Bird flu hits Ghana

May 3 2007

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported the first outbreak of bird flu in Ghana.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu has been discovered at a chicken farm 20 km east of the capital Accra.

Some of Ghana's neighbors have already had outbreaks of the disease among poultry, and the worst-hit, Nigeria, has had the first reported death from the virus in Africa's sub-Sahara region.

Dr. Harry Opata, WHO disease prevention and control officer for the region, says the outbreak was detected on a farm near the port of Tema and has been confirmed by a U.S. naval services laboratory in Cairo, Egypt.

Dr. Opata says as 100 chickens were dying on a daily basis the assumption is that the whole farm was infected.

All 1,600 birds on the farm, in the main chickens, have already been incinerated to control the disease.

Though the farm was relatively isolated, the surrounding area had been put under veterinary surveillance to prevent the spread of the virus.

The deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu has to date been responsible for either the death or culling of millions of bird life.

The virus has spread from Asia to almost all corners of the world killing 172 people to date.

The virus first hit Africa in 2006 in Nigeria, and outbreaks were subsequently confirmed in Ghana's neighbours Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso as well as nearby Niger and Cameroon.

Even though the virus remains a disease of birds which is difficult for humans to contract,experts are concerned it will mutate into a form which can transfer from human to human.

Poor human and animal health services in sub-Saharan Africa could exacerbate that risk by allowing the virus to go unnoticed, giving it more opportunities to mutate.