An H5N1 outbreak has been confirmed in the northern province of Zamfara, Nigeria. At least 200 birds have been culled and there is concern that the virus may be spreading among poultry farms in the African nation.
Nigeria has suffered as having the fastest growing spread of the bird flu virus in Africa. A weak monitoring system and unqualified health personnel are being blamed for the uncontrolled outbreaks.
Nigeria Veterinary Association President Garba Sharabutu:

“Up till now, the populace has not come to terms with the issue of movement of birds,” he said. “And the second thing is that, we are …read more

Nathan Wolfe, UCLA biologist and NIH Health Pioneer awardee, has the most unusual way of studying viral plague-harbingers.
He goes hunting, deep in the African jungles of Cameroon, Yaound.
The Doctor, as villagers call him, investigates sudden die-offs of primates in the jungles, collects blood from hunters and their kills, tests wild and domestic birds for avian flu and a vast range of fiel research all in the quest to discover viruses originating in the wild with the potential to mutate into pandemic forms.
Animal-to-human invaders or zoonoses – malaria, HIV, smallpox, West Nile, Ebola, SARS, avian influenza – have plagued recent centuries …read more

Egypt teams with Indonesia for bird flu vaccine. Egyptian vaccine maker is teaming up with an Indonesian company to develop a bird flu vaccine for humans. [SciAm News]
Egyptian toddler tests positive for H5N1. A two-year old Egyptian girl tested positive for the bird flu virus, bringing the total human victims in Egypt to 33. [Reuters AlertNews]
Cambodian girl dies of bird flu. A 13-year old girl from Ponhea Kreak died on bird flu Thursday, only three days after getting ill from the virus. [People's Daily Online]
Indonesian girl dies of bird flu . A 15-year old girl from Jakarta died of bird …read more

EGYPT: Teenage girl dies of bird flu. Egypt’s 12 fatal bird flu victim was a 17-year old girl from the rural Fayyoum region who died on February 2. Egypt has been the country worst affected by H5N1 outside of Asia, and a new strain of the virus recently found to be moderately resistant to Tamiflu. [via Reuters]
Bird Flu Expert Warns of More Outbreaks in Nigeria. Nineteen states and Abuja, the Nigerian capital, have reporte bird flu outbreaks in poultry in the past days, amidst news of the first human case of H5N1. Concerns abound that Nigeria risks becoming a permanent …read more

Thousands of birds are being slaughtered in Nigeria in a concerted effort to stop the bird flu from further spreading. Via Reuters AlertNet -

Junaid Maina, Nigeria’s national director of livestock, said new cases of the virus were confirmed this week in northwestern Sokoto and nearby in Katsina state, 800 kilometres northeast of Abuja. “Our teams are out there now culling birds,” Maina said.
Sokoto’s cases are the first ever in the state, while Katsina is among 14 of Nigeria’s 36 states struck last year. More than 18,000 birds have been culled in the two states since the beginning of the week, …read more

Three members of one family died within only four days in what looks like a new bird flu outbreak in Gharbiya, Egypt. The most recent death, a 27-year old male, occurred on December 27, and two others – one a 30-year old female and a 15-year old girl, died while in the hospital.

All three victims lived in the same house, along with 27 other relatives, said Egyptian authorities. The backyard of the house had a large number of ducks. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the family members became ill after slaughtering the ducks in an attempt to stem …read more

The Kingdom of Jordan is experiencing one of the worst flu epidemics in recent years, admits physicians as reports are coming in of a conspicuously larnge number pf people falling ill.
Dr. Ahmad Irani, an internist in Amman, said he has treated three times the number of flu stricken patients this year. “My patients say this is the worst flu they have had in their lives.”
Symptoms of this year’s strain – sore throat, achy joints, and fever, are more intense and last longer and include an unusual occurrence of “temporary asthma-like” episodes. People had to take a week or more days …read more

With more countries in Africa now battling the bird flu, the World Bank reveals that more than $500 million is needed to fight bird flu in Africa.
Already $1.9 billion has been pledged by countries all over the world at the January World Bank conference, but only a small portion of that has been allotted for Africa.
However, the H5N1 virus has spread into Africa and began affecting some of the poorest countries in the continent – Uganda, Niger, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Djibouti, as well as Egypt. That money pledged in January was spent rapidly and is not enough …read more

Samuel Preston, that is. Of the Ordinary Boys, and celebrity Big Brother fame.
Gossip reports say he got the African flu, no less, when he honeymooned with bride Celebrity Big Brother co-star CHANTELLE in Morocco six weeks ago.
Here’s the scoop:
Preston wakes up in the middle of Tuesday night having a 20-minute FIT.
A pal says the singer fears he has the African Flu.
But – his doctors lost a urine sample that he gave for testing.
Now – he’s been ordered by his doctors to rest while they do more tests on him.
So – he can’t promote his new single ‘Lonely At The Top’.
Poor …read more

An Egyptian woman has tested positive for H5N1 after handling sick ducks raised in her own home. The 39-year old woman from the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya has been treated with Tamiflu at a local hospital. Good news is that she’s in stable condition

MENA reported that the newly infected woman had raised a flock of 11 ducks from her home north of the Egyptian capital. Two became sick and died, and she then slaughtered the rest before she was hospitalised.

She would be the fifteenth human case since the avian flu virus was first detected in February, but the first …read more