Information Minister Frank Nweke has said in a statement that a pathogenic form of bird flu has spread to three new states, and one among them is Nigeria’s southern most state.
Idemili, the southern state of Anambra, Oturpo in the central state of Benue and Port Harcourt in Rivers state have been confirmed to have the bird-flu virus. According to Frank, "The culling of infected birds and decontamination of the affected areas in the three states has commenced with the cooperation of the authorities in the affected states."With this outbreak, total of 12 locations have already been identified with the bird flu in West African country. Nweke has confirmed that more diagnostic tests are being carried out at the Reference Laboratory in Padua, Italy. At this point in time, it was still uncertain if the virus was H5N1. Thankfully, there are no reported cases of bird flu in humans in Nigeria so far.
