Bird disease in flu-hit Nigeria "spreading like wildfire"
"We have 20,000 new infections reported today, bringing the figure for infected birds to 80,000. What worsens the situation is the movement of infected poultry, in a frantic effort to minimise losses," he said.
Haruna and several market stall holders told AFP that once chickens are infected farmers are killing them and rapidly dumping them on the market in an effort to beat any future quarantine and make a quick profit.
Other outbreaks have been contained by government acting quickly to quarantine and destroy infected flocks, and by the cooperation of the affected farmers. Nigeria barely has a government, much less an effective one, and this situation is ripe for creating a crossover strain that can move between humans easily.
Remember this is a country where ebola, which is extraordinarily difficult to contract, kills people by the dozens or hundreds every few years. So H5N1 should have no difficulty rearranging its genes for human transmission.
Watch and wait.
Posted on February 9, 2006 04:13 PM