Bird flu kills over 200,000 chicken in Burkina Faso

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Bird Flu

By April 13, 2015, over 202, 000 deaths of chicken and estimated losses of over 3 billion CFA Francs (about 5 million U.S. dollars) had been reported in Burkina Faso following the confirmation of an outbreak of bird flu in early April. Bird Flu
A source from the ministry in charge of animal resources said on Wednesday that bird flu had been reported in five of the country’s 45 provinces, and it had killed 200,000 hens and 2,000 guinea fowls.
Close to 11.4 million poultry are exposed to the disease.
Due to this situation, the ministry has reinforced its counterattack measures that include destruction of bodies of birds that died from contamination, killing of already infected poultry and sensitization of the population on measures to be taken, the director of veterinary services Lassiana Ouattara said.
Burkina Faso has already mobilized 390 million CFA Francs to fund this counterattack plan, and has appealed for additional support of 2.6 billion CFA Francs from technical and financial partners.
The H5N1 bird flu virus can affect individuals in close contact with infected or dead birds. Statistics from the World Health Organization show that the disease has killed over 400 people in the world since 2003.
Since the confirmation of bird flu, several neighbouring countries have banned the importation of poultry from Burkina Faso, the second highest foreign exchange earner for the country after the mining sector. Enditem

Source: Xinhua

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