ETHIOPIA: Dead birds test negative for H5N1 virus

ADDIS ABABA, 6 Apr 2006 (IRIN) - Final laboratory tests on birds suspected of having died of the H5N1 avian flu virus in Ethiopia in March are negative, according to health officials.

"We were informed on Tuesday by the Italian-based laboratory that the avian flu has not been detected in the samples. We have been waiting eagerly for over a month to know the final results of the testing," said Dr Sileshi Zewde, head of animal care at the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, on Wednesday.

Samples had been sent to the Italian laboratory, Pavola, in March following the death of more than 6,000 chickens at a poultry farm some 300 km south of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The laboratory found that the chickens had died of another viral disease, Gumboro. Sileshi said the virus had entered Ethiopia three years earlier from a neighbouring country he declined to name. "What we know about this disease - Gumboro - is that it is a new disease affecting chickens, but cannot be transmitted to a human beings," he said. "We will continue to undertake prevention measures to control the spread of the disease among poultry farms."

Tiruwork Tafesse, a nurse in charge of integrated disease surveillance and prevention at the health ministry, said preventive measures were underway. No general outbreak of the new disease had been reported in the country so far. "We cannot predict tomorrow, but we should tell the public to take measures during slaughters at house levels. They should not eat uncooked chicken and eggs," she said.

There are approximately 30 million chickens in Ethiopia. Since the outbreak of Gumboro, chicken sales have been very low, and the price of the birds has dropped by more than 20 percent.

In December 2005, 500 dead pigeons in Ethiopia's eastern Somali region were confirmed to have died from Newcastle disease, one of the most infectious poultry diseases in the world.