Africa at risk of avian influenza

Experts warn Africa will be the next point of attack for bird flu. There are even rumors that bird flu is killing many chickens in an African village .

Migratory birds are threatening to spread bird flu in Africa

Earlier, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said migratory birds could bring bird flu to East Africa and the Middle East within a few weeks. An article in the Nature magazine warns that the economic and health consequences in these areas are even worse than in Southeast Asia once bird flu breaks out.

Kenyan health officials said the country launched a campaign to alert bird flu last week. An official said: ' We have increased surveillance of the disease to prevent influenza virus if it appears '.

Minister of Animal Resources and Prevention of Ugandan Disease, William Olaho, also said: ' Things are going badly and we have stopped importing all poultry and poultry products until the situation back to normal '.

Experts believe that rural residents around the Rift Valley area's eastern lake areas, which are largely dependent on poultry farming, may be the hardest hit. The impact on Africa will be different from that of Europe, the loss of poultry will have a strong impact on the life of the residents of this area.

Each new bird flu has increased the likelihood of a variant of the H5N1 virus making it easily spread from person to person and causing a pandemic. If this happens, experts predict that 2 million to 50 million people will die around the world.

Kenyan ornithologists say that, along with US and Egyptian scientists, the country will conduct a rift test on the Rift Valley tomorrow October 28 to see if it carries the H5N1 virus. Muchane Muchai, director of the National Museum of Kenya, said: 'Researchers will continue to monitor flocks of birds on the migration path until March.'

East African countries will meet next month in Rwanda to plan for the region to fight avian influenza.

WALL VY ( According to BBC, Reuters )