Bird flu back in Abuja, 7 states

Warns against vaccination of birds

The Federal Government yesterday alerted the public on the outbreak of Avian Influenza (bird flu) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and seven states.

Gideon Mshelbwala, the Director of Veterinary and Pest Control Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, issued the alert at a meeting with state Commissioners of Agriculture in Abuja.

Mr. Mshelbwala listed the states affected by the outbreak to include Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Nasarawa, Plateau, FCT and Kaduna, which reported a case in May 30. He said the disease had spread across 26 states of the federation and the FCT since it started in 2008, affecting 800 farms in no fewer than 123 local government areas.

Mr. Mshelbwala, who said there were no scientifically proven vaccines for bird flu, noted that the federal government was adopting quarantine, movement control, stamping out, decontamination and bio-security measures to curb the spread. The director expressed regret over the poor bio-security practices by some poultry farmers, adding that it was the major reason for the continuous spread of the disease.

According to him, the federal government has paid over N674 million in compensations to 269 farmers across the affected states.

“Our national action plan encourages proper regulation of the poultry industry and enforcement of annual registration of all actors along the poultry value chain including farmers, traders, egg merchants and feed millers. It also encourages the creation of veterinary extension services to facilitate the control and proper inspection of poultry and poultry products,” he said. Mr. Mshelbwala said that the way forward to the containment of the disease was to ban importation of poultry and products, quarantine and bio-security measures, among others. He, however, warned poultry farmers against illegal vaccination of birds, saying it was a deadly alternative to the control of the disease. (NAN)