by Nasser Fathmy
DJIBOUTI (AFP) – Health authorities in Djibouti probed more suspected human cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu and stepped up measures to prevent the virus’ first appearance in east Africa from spreading.
A day after confirming a two-year-old girl in the tiny Red Sea state had become sickened by the disease, which was detected in three chickens, the first outbreak in the region, scientists said three more possible human cases were being investigated.
“Three others are under investigation,” said Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, which is coordinating anti-bird flu efforts with Djiboutian authorities.
She said samples from the three patients, believed to be from the same family as the stricken child, had been sent to the US-run laboratory in Egypt that first confirmed the presence of H5N1 in Djiibouti after tests on April 27.
Another WHO official said the affected family lives in an impoverished rural village near Djibouti’s border with Somalia and kept chickens.
In Djibouti, health and agricultural authorities were analyzing poultry from the area along with experts sent to the former French colony by the WHO at the weekend, officials said.
“They are investigating possible contact between humans and infected birds and looking into the possiblity of other human cases,” said Jihane Tawilah, the WHO representative in Djibouti.
The girl infected with the virus is alive and being treated in a hospital in the capital, Tawilah told AFP.
Djibouti’s Minister of Health Abdallah Abdillahi Miguil was leading an emergency task force set up to alert the country’s some 300,000 population to the dangers of the disease, officials said.
Djibouti is the first country in east Africa to report the appearance of the H5N1 virus in either birds or humans and the second in Africa to report a human case after Egypt where five people have died of the disease.
It is the eighth African country to find the strain in birds after Nigeria, Egypt, Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Sudan.
The H5N1 virus has struck poultry flocks in dozens of countries in Asia, Europe and Africa and claimed more than 100 human lives since late 2003.
Health authorities had long warned that east Africa was at particular risk for the spread of the virus because it hosts large numbers of migratory birds thought to be carriers.
But suspected outbreaks reported after mass bird deaths in countries such as Ethiopia, Eritrea and Kenya have all proved negative to date.
Health officials said they were surprised that the region’s first cases appeared in Djibouti as the country is populated mainly by nomadic pastoralists who keep cattle, sheep and goats and coastal residents whose staple is fish.
“We did not expect Djibouti to be the first country affected,” Tawilah said. “There is very little poultry consumption here and the density of domestic fowl is very low compared with other countries in the region.”
Djiboutian officials noted that chicken is considered a luxury by most of the nation’s impoverished people and that 90 percent of the poultry eaten in the country is imported frozen.
The WHO has sent supplies of the anti-influenza treatment Tamiflu and protective equipment to Djibouti, and was ready to deploy experts to the Red Sea state if requested, Cheng said.
Epidemiologists say the H5N1 viral strain, which can kill humans, requires very close contact to jump the species barrier. Tens of millions of infected birds have passed the virus on to a total of 206 people in two and a half years.
Of these known cases, confirmed by the WHO, more than half have died.
Health officials fear a global pandemic of the disease with millions of deaths if it mutates into a strain easily transmitted between humans.
They have also warned that many nations in Africa, the world’s poorest continent, are highly vulnerable to the spread of bird flu due to the close proximity between people and animals.
Source: AFP, May 12, 2006
