Bird Flu Update #10

Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) are now in Nigeria to investigate several cases of the avian flu in poultry. WHO experts are also in the country to help local government officials prevent the spread of the H5N1 virus to humans. Infected birds have been found in three northern Nigerian states, with the first infected bird found on Feb. 6.

The WHO director for Africa, Dr. Luis Sambo, said Monday that concerns are high over the spread of the virus to humans because of the country's dense population.

"Nigeria is a densely populated country with a highly mobile population," said Sambo in a WHO news release. "Containing the outbreak in Nigeria - and elsewhere around the world where the disease has occurred - is crucial as this will save the world community a public health nightmare."

According to the release, "...other forms of support expected to be provided by WHO to the Nigerian government include technical assistance for social mobilization, active surveillance and case detection; strengthening of laboratories to facilitate investigations and confirmation of diagnosis; supply of personal protective equipment including security gears such as masks and gloves, and supply of laboratory reagents and drugs such as Tamiflu - an antiviral drug considered a first line of defence against avian influenza."

German health officials also announced this week that the H5N1 virus was found in two swans, sending government leaders into meetings about preparations and response. Some European countries are ordering farmers to keep their poultry inside barns in order to stop the spread of the virus. Officials from Poland, Romania and Hungary say they are doing regular testing of birds.

Austria, Greece, the Urkaine and Turkey have already found infected birds. So far, Turkey is the only European country to see the spread of the virus to humans. The virus has claimed four lives there.

The WHO said Monday that there have been 169 confirmed human cases in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam since 2003. The virus has claimed 91 lives.

The WHO maintains a pandemic alert rating system, which is currently set at Level 3 "Pandemic Alert" as of Tuesday. The Level 3 alert states the current pandemic threat as "No or very limited human-to-human transmission."

No cases have been detected in North America yet.

DISASTER NEWS NETWORK

NIGERIA BANS HOME POULTRY IN CAPITOL

Nigeria banned domestic poultry in its political capital, Abuja, on Wednesday as it redoubled efforts to contain Africa's first outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu.

"The minister of the Federal Capital Territory has invoked a provision in the statute of the Federal Capital Territory which makes it illegal for people to keep stocks of poultry in their homes or backyards," Information Minister Frank Nweke told journalists after a weekly Cabinet meeting.

He said authorities were "going around to pick up the birds and poultry that are being kept in residential homes".

On Monday, Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo said there were suspected cases of bird flu in Abuja, but there have been no confirmed cases in the region so far.

The outbreak has so far been confined to the sprawling country's north, with one of the epicentres about 300km from Abuja, and officials are struggling to prevent it from spilling over to the densely populated south.

Last week, United Nations scientists revealed that a month-old outbreak of sickness among chickens at a commercial battery farm in the north of Nigeria was Africa's first confirmed case of the deadly H5N1 virus.

Since then, clean-up teams have visited more than a dozen farms to kill, burn and bury tens of thousands of birds thought to be infected with the disease. International experts have arrived to help contain its spread.

APS

Helicopter Attack in the Delta

The Nigerian military launched a helicopter gunship attack on targets in the oil-producing Delta state on Wednesday, and militants threatened to shoot down aircraft unless military flights stopped. The attack was the first major military operation in the Niger Delta since a militant group staged a series of attacks against the oil industry, and hours after British Foreign Minister Jack Straw called on the Nigerian government to improve security in the delta.

Militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said the attack was against Ijaw communities in the Gbaramatu area of the state, but a Navy source said it was directed against oil barges suspected of being used in the theft of crude oil. "A military helicopter belonging to the Nigerian Army attacked Ijaw communities in Gbaramatu area of Delta state firing rockets and machine guns at targets on land," the militants said in an email statement.

The helicopter took off from the Osubi airstrip in Warri, operated by Royal Dutch Shell , which militants said was meant to be a civilian airfield. "Operators of civilian aircraft in this airfield will do well to advise Shell to desist from the practice of permitting the use of this airfield for military use," the militants said. "We are very well capable of shooting down aircraft landing and taking off from this airstrip and may consider doing so should it be discovered that the use of this privately owned civilian airstrip for military operations is not discontinued."

CRUDE THEFT

Industry and government officials estimate that about 100,000 barrels a day, or 5 percent of Nigerian oil output, is stolen by well-connected Nigerian criminal gangs working with international syndicates. The proceeds often go towards buying arms for gangs in the delta, fuelling a cycle of violence.

A boat taxi operator in Warri town said he thought Wednesday's attack might be directed against people who have opened a hole in a pipeline in that area operated by the state oil company which feeds the Warri refinery. The 125,000 barrel-a-day refinery has been shut since last month because of the damaged pipeline. After meeting with top Shell executives in Port Harcourt, at the other end of the delta, Straw said oil theft was going down, but added that more had to be done to reassure the international community and encourage investment in Nigeria.

Some areas of the delta were still lawless, he added. "There is a big security challenge. A lot of effective security enforcement depends very significantly on cooperation that can be achieved at a state level," Straw said. "This delta covers a number of states. In some you have good quality leaders, in others less good quality. That is reflected in the security situation in the delta," he said.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which is fighting for more local control over the oil wealth, cut Nigerian oil output by 10 percent last month with a series of attacks on oil pipelines and plaftorms. They also kidnapped four foreign oil workers, including a Briton, for 19 days. A military response had been expected because the militants, who are heavily armed and operate in speedboats with military-style efficiency, killed 14 soldiers in one attack on an oil platform on Jan. 13.

REUTERS