The Federal Government has alerted the public to the outbreak of Avian Influenza or Bird Flu in the FCT and seven states of the country. The Director of Veterinary and Pest Control Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Gideon Mshelbwala, stated this at a meeting with state Commissioners of Agriculture in Abuja today.
Mshelbwala listed the states affected by the outbreak to include Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Nasarawa, Plateau, FCT and lastly Kaduna, which reported a case on May 30.
He said that the disease had spread across 26 states of the federation and the FCT since it started in 2008 affecting 800 farms in no fewer than 123 local government areas.
Mshelbwala, who said that there were no scientifically proven vaccines for bird flu, noted that the Federal Government was adopting quarantine, movement control, stamping out, decontamination and bio-security measures to curb the spread.
He, however, warned poultry farmers against illegal vaccination of birds, saying that it was a deadly alternative to the control of the disease.
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