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Ogun State has recorded an outbreak of Avian Influenza, also known as bird flu, at a breeder poultry farm in Orile-Ilugun in Odeda Council.According to the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs. Adepeju Adebajo, the government yesterday activated bird flu control measures as proactive steps to prevent the spread of the virus.
Adebajo said the ministry had visited the farm on Thursday, September 7, to carry out disease surveillance activities, with the intention of curtailing any potential spread of the virus.
“The causative agent was found to be H5N8, which is a variant of the H5N1 virus that was previously known to exist in Nigeria,” Adebajo said.She, however, said there is no cause for alarm, as no live bird from other poultry farms in the state had tested positive to the highly pathogenic bird flu.
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According to her, samples of birds taken from another poultry farm in the council, as well as farms and markets in Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Ilaro and Ayetoro, had tested negative to the H5N8 virus.
The last reported incidence of bird flu in Ogun State occurred in October 2015.
