LAGOS, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Friday alerted the public to the outbreak of bird flu in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and seven states of the country.
Gideon Mshelbwala, the Director of Veterinary and Pest Control Services, raised the alert at a meeting with state Commissioners of Agriculture in Abuja, the nation's capital on Friday.
Mshelbwala listed the states affected by the outbreak to include Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Nasarawa, Plateau, FCT and lastly Kaduna, which reported a case in May 30.
He said 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 there were no scientifically proven vaccines for bird flu, added that the government was adopting quarantine, movement control, stamping out, decontamination and bio-security measures to curb the spread.
The director expressed regret over the poor bio-security practices by some poultry farmers, adding that it was the major reason for the continuous spread of the disease.
"Our national action plan encourages proper regulation of the poultry industry and enforcement of annual registration of all actors along the poultry value chain including farmers, traders, egg merchants and feed millers," he added.
Mshelbwala said the way forward to the containment of the disease was to ban importation of poultry and products, quarantine and bio-security measures, among others.
He warned poultry farmers against illegal vaccination of birds, saying that it was a deadly alternative to the control of the disease. Enditem
