WIDESPREAD BIRD DEATHS SPARK AVIAN FLU WORRIES

UNCLAS LAGOS 000175

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE PASS OES/S
USDA PASS FAS/ITP
USDA PASS APHIS
USDA PASS ICD
USDA PASS FAS/FAA FOR RANDY HAGER
USDA FOR CMP
USDA PASS OA
EMBASSY ROME PASS US MISSION FOR UN, UNMI ROME

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AMED AMGT EAGR KFLU NI TBIO
SUBJECT: WIDESPREAD BIRD DEATHS SPARK AVIAN FLU WORRIES

REF: ABUJA 289


1. (SBU) Ag Attache spoke with the Agriculture Ministry's
Chief Vet Officer (CVO),who reported widespread poultry
deaths in mid-January at a farm in Kaduna State owned by the
Nigerian Minister of Sports. The farm lost its entire flock
of 46,000 chickens. Samples from this farm were sent to the
National Vet Research Institute (NVRI) in Jos, Plateau State,
for analysis. The laboratory suspected the presence of avian
influenza (AI),but was not equipped to identify which
strain. The NVRI lab also detected the possible presence of
other diseases, including cholera and the coronary
respiratory disease. On 2 February, the sample was sent to
the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reference
laboratory in Rome for further analysis. (Note: There is no
laboratory in Nigeria capable of detecting the H5N1 strain of
AI. End note.)


2. (SBU) The CVO office also sent a team to Zaria to
investigate the deaths, and they traced some of the birds to
Kano. The team then visited several farms in Kano, and found
two poultry farms with high mortality rates as well.
According the CVO, both the farm in Zaria and the two farms
in Kano have fundamentally deficient animal health management
practices which lead to serious health problems; the farms
have no vets and no vaccination records, birds are sourced
from multiple locations, and birds of different ages and from
different flocks are commingled.


3. (SBU) In a later conversation with Ag Attache, the
Nigerian CVO could not discount the possibility the bird
deaths were due to H5N1. The CVO, who has apparently been in
touch with FAO, told us the lab results should be ready
tomorrow, 8 February. Mission will continue to monitor
events closely.
BROWNE