Bird flu makes comeback

Executive Director of the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) Dr. Mohammed Ahmed, said on Tuesday that new cases of bird flu have been discovered in Abia and Enugu States.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria in Jos that it was the first time the flu was found in the two eastern states.
“The last cases we stamped out in May, after destroying more than 1.4 million birds, affected only 18 states. Now the two states have come down with the disease and brought the total to 20 states,” he said.
He said the new cases had been traced to the purchase of birds in Ibadan at the “point of lay” by some poultry farmers in the two states.
“Unfortunately, the young birds came down with the disease, which means that we have not been enforcing the restriction in movement that is a key step in controlling the disease.”

Read also: That yummy-looking chicken may just have bugs

While advising farmers to be more proactive, he said the purchase of birds at the point of lay was “certainly not the best,” because farmers would not know how the birds were raised.
He said purchasing of birds at the point of lay was mostly done by lazy farmers, adding that the attitude was “very dangerous, deadly and costly.”
He therefore advised farmers to always patronise well established farms that have massive hatcheries and were meticulous on biosecurity.
The NVRI boss said the national technical committee on bird flu had suggested to the Federal Government, the establishment of an active surveillance unit and was still waiting for response.
He also spoke on the payment of compensations to owners of farms whose birds were destroyed, saying the exercise was in progress.

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