By Sarah McGregor
Johannesburg - Africa must find resources to back international efforts to stop the spread of bird flu and help prevent a human pandemic, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday, as Ivory Coast declared a new outbreak.
African nations cannot afford to ignore the threat of H5N1 bird flu, which can kill people, and should make early investments to detect and wipe out the virus in poultry and wild birds, Alan Hay, director of the WHO Influenza Centre told Reuters.
"The danger is that you might have something where it could be smouldering and then all of a sudden it shows up in the human population," Hay said on the sidelines of the Roche Diagnostics Forum, which focuses in healthcare in Africa, in Johannesburg.
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"We know it's a difficult task and asking a lot, but surveillance (is more cost effective) than dealing with a pandemic."
Ivory Coast declared a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu on Thursday, the first in the West African country since it was first detected there in April.
Two turkeys from a flock of 20 were found dead on November 9 in Abatta, a lagoon-side village on the outskirts of the economic capital Abidjan. Around eight more died over the next few days, a government veterinary official said.
"We are trying to make sure this case doesn't spread and we are compensating owners of birds as we cull," Dr Yao N'Dri, regional director of animal and fishery resources, told Reuters.
Poultry outside the 3km perimeter and in Abidjan would be vaccinated, he said.
Demand for chicken plummeted in war-divided Ivory Coast when the first cases of the virus were detected in April, although an Abidjan disc jockey, DJ Lewis, quickly shot to fame by inventing a catchy bird flu song and dance making light of the disease.
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