If medals were to be awarded to countries for fire brigade approach to national issues, Nigeria obviously would score first. This fact was brought to the fore about a fortnight ago when the presence of the deadly strain of Bird flu virus was confirmed in the country. As usual, the country was thrown into confusion as the government grappled with what to do to stamp out the influx of the alien virus. Science Reporter, Onche Odeh, observes that, like in the cases of polio, HIV/AIDS, among others, Nigeria was again caught off guard.

On Wednesday, February 8, the Nigerian media was awash with news of the sudden discovery of the deadly avian flu among birds in a commercial poultry farm in Jaji, Kaduna State.
The confirmation that the highly pathogenic strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus was responsible for the death of a huge number of birds in a farm owned by a serving minister marked the first reported case of the disease in Africa, as confirmed by Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health.

As usual, this triggered a presidential emergency response, as President Olusegun Obasanjo announced less than a week later the establishment of a crisis management centre in Aso Rock, Abuja, to co-ordinate all measures to stamp out the bird flu from the country.
The president had directed that the centre’s activities be supervised by the Ministers of Health, Professor Eyitayo Lambo, Information and National Orientation, Frank Nweke Jnr., and Agriculture, Alhaji Adamu Bello, on a 24-hour basis.

Also, a task force raised by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration was drafted to test all birds in Aso Rock and destroy them if susceptible to the virus. This measure is to be taken to FCT streets where officials of the task force would visit private homes to pick birds for test and destruction.

At state level, governments and public institutions such as universities have continued to unfold steps initiated by to contain the virus spread.

All these amounts to reactionary measures, which are viewed as indictment on government, being the determinant of most of the policies in the country.

It would be recalled that an emergency committee was set up by the minister of health when it was suspected that Nigeria could fall victim of the avian flu during the wake of the outbreak in Asia.

Dr. Edughie Abebe, then a director of Public Health at the Federal Ministry of Health, had warned over two years ago during a WHO Assembly meeting that Nigeria and Africa may soon witness an outbreak of influenza.

She obviously was thinking of human influenza and not this soon.
The rationale behind the constitution of the committee in November 2005 while the outbreak raged in parts of Asia and Europe was seriously questioned even as the country was still caught off guards by the deadly avian flu.

The health minister had stated during the inauguration of that committee that it urgent assignment was to prepare and produce a specific pandemic preparedness and health sector response action plan in four weeks.

The first four weeks, beginning late November and December, went and another went in January only for us to suddenly wake up to the reality in the first week of February.
This marks the failure of a committee made up of seasoned epidemiologists, virologists and laboratory experts, who were mandated to search for the virus in the northern wetlands and among poultry farms and markets.

Last month, Nigeria had sent veterinary scientists to the northern wetlands to find out if any of the migrating birds there has the virus.

This was never ascertained until we caught the deadly bug.
The headship of the committee in an attempt to exonerate the team had accused the government of lackadaisical approach in preparing for the outbreak.
Although the Minister of Information and National Orientation had disregarded reports of the spread of the flu to other human cases, it remains uncertain.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus found in Nigeria was identified by a laboratory in Padova, Italy. The laboratory is conducting further analysis to ascertain its genetic composition as well as define the degree of genetic homology with the currently known H5N1 strains.

The greater atmosphere of uncertainty pervades the country as suspected cases of the avian flu were reported in the Southern part of the country, but government claims this was not true. Meanwhile, government veterinary officials said the initial tests on chickens that mysteriously died in another northern state showed no sign of bird flu.
Experts are particularly concerned that H5N1 might mutate into a form spread easily among humans, triggering a pandemic capable of killing millions.

It is, however, unfortunate that the response was only sequel to an influx, despite the high-profile anticipation.

Failed Regional Response

Earlier in January this year, representatives from 18 countries across West and Central Africa attended a regional conference in Malian capital, Bamako, to discuss avian influenza.
The event, which took place before the first confirmed outbreak of bird flu in Africa, was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in conjunction with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

The primary objectives were to improve regional co-ordination by launching a bird surveillance network, reinforce national monitoring capacity in participating states as well as help governments prepare for bird flu emergency.
Then participants were asked to begin work on an action plan to be drawn and implemented with FAO assistance.

Nigeria alongside 17 other African countries attended that summit.

The Bamako conference was one of five events organised by the FAO in December 2005 and January 2006 in regions that had then not reported any case of bird flu.

Three conferences were held in North Africa, East Africa and West Africa, and others in Central Europe and the Middle East. But it is ironical that all these conferences could still not form a barricade against the influx of the virus in Africa.

Dr. David Nabarro, of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said the virus has spread wider than was currently expected.

"If it's in Nigeria it might also be in other countries that are less well-equipped."
His reaction followed that of WHO Director General, Dr. Wong-Jong Lee, who regarded the confirmation of the Nigerian case as bad omen for Africa.

“This is the first reported incidence of this highly pathogenic virus on the continent, where people are already enduring the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other serious infectious diseases,” Dr. Lee said in a statement to the press.

While referring to the experience in Asian countries and most recently in Turkey, he said, “….Slaughtering, de-feathering or butchering infected, sick or dead birds can put people at risk.

The home slaughter and consumption of birds, which appear to be sick, is high-risk behaviour. Ideally, people culling and disposing of birds should have protective equipment.”
Meanwhile, WHO is offering support to Nigeria's national public information campaign. The polio eradication infrastructure in Nigeria is also being mobilised to support other essential surveillance and protective measures such as monitoring for human cases, support for early warning systems, and logistics support for containment, treatment, and laboratory functions.

This was confirmed to Daily Independent by WHO headquarters last week on phone.
The communication officer confirmed the arrival of the WHO team in Lagos, South-West Nigeria, to help Nigerian government contained further spread.

The general interest in stamping out this outbreak in Nigeria is understandable, as the DG explains thus: “This latest outbreak confirms that no country is immune to H5N1. Every country is at risk. There is a risk that outbreaks of H5N1 infection in birds could spread within Nigeria and into neighbouring countries. Nigeria is one of several African countries located on the Black Sea-Mediterranean flyway used by migratory birds.”

Effort To Halt Spread

In a swift response, world veterinary experts raced to help Nigeria contain the bird flu outbreak in the North of the country soon after its presence in Africa was confirmed.
There is, however, i a snag, as authorities in northern Nigerian state of Kano, where the deadly bird flu is also found to be decimating chickens and endangering people, have allegedly stopped the United Nations experts from visiting poultry farms.

Two experts from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have arrived the capital of the state, where the deadly H5N1 strain was also confirmed on February 8 on two farms, as more than 30 other farms are reporting mass poultry deaths.
Boubacar Seck, co-ordinator of the FAO West African Regional Project on Avian Influenza said,

“The Kano State authorities said it was not feasible in terms of bio-security. I have my own protective suit and so do members of the team... but they said they didn't have enough for everybody.”

This also portends great danger, as Kano has the penchant for disregarding world response to critical health issues as witnessed during the polio vaccine controversy. This caused the 2005 target set by WHO for polio eradication across the world to fail.
European authorities are already assessing the risk from migratory birds making the journey north from West Africa this spring, although how big a factor migration is in spreading the disease is still in dispute.

The highly pathogenic virus strain found in Nigeria is said to be similar to those found in birds in Siberia and Mongolia, and further tests are underway to determine how close the Nigerian samples are to the H5N1 detected in other parts of the world.

The news of the Nigerian outbreak coincided with fears that bird flu is now spreading through Iraq. The avian virus, which has already claimed the life of a teenager in Kurdistan, is now being investigated as possible cause of death of a pigeon-seller in the southern city of Amara. World-wide, 88 of the 165 people confirmed as being infected with the avian virus have died.
The threat, however, remains that the virus would mutate further into something that can spread easily between people and kill millions.