Bird Flu: The Uninvited Guest

The reappearance in May of the Avian Flu at the Yaounde Mvog-Betsi Poultry Complex sent shockwaves of disappointment across the country.

The news fell like a bombshell. An outbreak of bird flu confirmed by the national veterinary laboratory had killed 15,000 fowls at the Mvog-Betsi Poultry Complex. This number represented about 50 per cent of birds in the facility, one of the largest in the country. The incident occurred after the epidemic surveillance network noticed an abnormal high mortality rate of fowls at the complex.

Without waste of time and in a bid to prevent its spread to other areas of the country, authorities of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries took draconian measures slaughtering, burning and disposing of remaining birds as well as monitoring people who visited the poultry complex during the week from May 16 to 22, 2016. This outbreak was reappearing ten years after the first one was reported in the Far North Region.

Avian flu, which is known also as bird flu and more formally as avian influenza, refers to flu caused by viruses that infect birds and make them ill. It is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. Avian flu can affect several types of birds, including farmed poultry such as chickens, geese, turkeys and ducks. The outbreak announced at Mvog-Betsi pushed authorities to meet and build up a strategy to circumscribe it within the affected area. But before they could open their eyes, the epidemic had spread to three other areas; South, West and Adamawa Regions.

...