Experts from the World Organization for Animal Health, OIE, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, are assessing the type of support Nigeria needs in tackling the bird flu.
In an interview with English to Africa reporter Angel Tabe, OIE spokeswoman Maria Zampiglione says “We actually organized joint teams of experts to go to Nigeria and assess relevant support to the Nigerian authorities in tackling the disease at the animal source.” Zampiglione said Nigeria itself had so far applied the classical control requirement, and no more cases were being reported in Kaduna. She says “So far we did not receive any follow up of other outbreaks from Nigerian authorities in that state.”
Zampiglione says Nigeria’s official notification to OIE indicates the outbreak might have occurred around January 10, 2006. She cautions that more than a month after the outbreak, countries around Nigeria like Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Niger and Togo, still need stringent border control measures. “I can only repeat that neighboring countries should strengthen their surveillance and import control measures on the borders.”