Burkina Faso government confirms outbreak of bird flu

Burkina Faso Government on Wednesday confirmed in Ouagadougou an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu in two regions of Kadiogo province in Centre region and Sanguie in Centre-West region.

Jean Rouamba, Minister for Livestock, said the outbreak was responsible for the deaths of large numbers of chickens.

The minister said tests had been carried out by the UN experts, after a wave of deaths in traditional and modern poultry farms in February and March.

Rouamba said strict measures had been put in place by the authorities to control further infections, without further details on the modalities.

He said the measure was being taken in line with the WHO, saying that whenever bird flu viruses are circulating in poultry, there was a risk of sporadic infections or small clusters of human cases.

It will be recalled that Burkina Faso last battled an outbreak of avian flu in 2006, when the disease was detected in a string of other countries in the region, including Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon and Ghana.