Avian Influenza: Not Again

By Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor 

It’s only a-day old kid that is yet to realize that Nigeria is current­ly bewildered by the re-emer­gence of Avian Influenza, popular­ly known as ‘bird flu’. When Ebola virus was on board in the country some months ago, as an analyst and activist, in most of my commentar­ies, I categorically stated that Nigeria would surely overcome the scourge if we could employ severe and sus­tainable measures just as we did dur­ing the era of avian influenza.

To have used avian influenza as an instance as regards severe ap­proach towards containing an ep­idemic signified that undoubtedly every needed step was taken when the country firstly experienced the disease (bird flu) in 2006. To this end, the capital question that needs to be asked at this point is: why the re-emergence, or why is the coun­try experiencing the outbreak for a second time barely after nine years of its initial occurrence?

The country was able to over­come the said pandemic infection during its previous outbreak, spe­cifically in 2006, owing to the tacti­cal and drastic approach employed by the government and other con­cerned bodies. This implies that the re-emergence of the menace might not be unconnected with the fact that we went to sleep or on a recess; that is, apathy on the part of the con­cerned authorities and personnel re­garding sustenance of the measure initially utilized. In view of this as­sertion, it’s high time we are awoke.

Presently, survey indicates that seven outbreaks of highly patho­genic Avian Influenza have been discovered in Nigeria. Six of the A(H5N1) outbreaks were report­ed in the central and northern re­gions of the country, which affect­ed states like Kano, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); over 21 thousand birds were re­portedly killed in the six outbreaks. Another outbreak occurred in the southern region of Bayelsa, affect­ing 8-week old pullets; 850 poultry died whereas 2150 were destroyed in this very outbreak. Officials said that farm workers visited other farms in the affected areas, which has great implications for possible infection routes and biosecurity.

Avian influenza is an infectious viral disease of birds particular­ly wild water fowls like ducks and geese among other such animals as pigs, whales and horses. Most avi­an influenza viruses don’t infect humans; however, some includ­ing A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) have caused serious infections in peo­ple. It is noted that outbreaks of A1 in poultry may raise global public health concerns as a result of their effect on poultry populations, their potential to cause serious disease in people, and their pandemic po­tential.