Saturday, February 11, 2006

Bird Flu Migrates to Nigeria, Greece, and Italy

Reuters reports that the WHO is hoping to prevent human cases of bird flu in Nigeria, after an outbreak in poultry which has already spread to Lagos. Reuters also reports on the recent deaths of wild swans in Greece and Italy:

Greece and Italy said on Saturday they had found swans with the H5N1 bird flu virus, the first known cases in the European Union of wild birds with the deadly strain of the disease.
As the slow creep of the virus around the globe continued, Romania said more infections were suspected in birds in the Danube delta and Bulgaria said the lethal strain had been confirmed among swans in wetlands close to the Romanian border. The region is a haven and transit point for migrating birds.
Nigeria started testing people who have fallen ill close to where the virus has been found among birds, in the first outbreak in Africa of a disease that has spread seemingly inexorably across the Eurasian landmass from China and Vietnam.

No comments: