AFP Photo
A
chicken vendor sit in
front of his almost
empty stand at the
Treicheville market, in
Abidjan, on May 4. The
tiny Red Sea state of
Djibouti reported east
Africa's first human
case of the deadly H5N1
deadly bird flu strain
and said some chickens
were also infected.
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DJIBOUTI (AFP) - The tiny Red
Sea state of Djibouti reported east Africa's first human case of
the deadly H5N1 deadly bird flu strain and said some chickens
were also infected.
The health ministry said that virology tests from samples of an
infected person taken last month were positive for the virulent
strain of the flu
virus, which had
also affected three domestic fowl. |
"Tests from a person suffering
from flu-like symptoms on April 27 were positive for the
disease," it said. "Three domestic hens were also affected by
the
virus."
The ministry said the tests were carried out with the
collaboration of the World Health Organization at a laboratory
in Cairo.
Djibouti is the first country in east Africa to report the
appearance of the H5N1
virus in either
birds or humans and the eighth on the African continent to find
the strain in birds.
Egypt is the only other country in Africa where people have been
infected by the disease, of whom five have died. |
