Nairobi, Kenya – A deadly strain of bird flu has been discovered on a poultry farm in northern Nigeria, health officials said Wednesday, marking the virus’ first known appearance in Africa.
A “highly pathogenic” form of the H5N1 virus has killed 40,000 birds in the rural Nigerian state of Kaduna, according to the World Organization for Animal Health, a United Nations agency. No humans have been infected, the agency said.
The announcement confirmed predictions that the virus, which has turned up in the Middle East and Eastern Europe in recent months, would land in Africa eventually, the region that experts fear might be the most vulnerable to a pandemic.
Millions of Africans live in close proximity to animals, and the continent’s health systems lack the capacity to control an outbreak.
Bird flu rarely infects humans, but close contact with sick birds increases the chances of people catching it. Health experts are concerned that the virus will mutate into a strain that passes easily between people, sparking a global pandemic.
