27.02.2006

Niger has become the third African country with confirmed cases of the H5N1 avian influenza strain. The H5N1 strain was found in traditionally-reared poultry in Magaria District, Zinder Region. Magaria district borders the State of Kano, in Nigeria, where highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been confirmed to be present.
Ilaria Capua, chief of the laboratory in Padua, Italy, that identified the H5N1 strain in birds from the deeply impoverished West African country, confirmed the test result and said the government of Niger had been informed.
H5N1 had earlier been confirmed in Nigeria, Niger's southern neighbour, and officials had said in mid-February they were investigating whether it had surfaced in Niger.
Lab chief Capua, speaking at a avian influenza conference in France, said she feared the arrival of the virus in a third African country was "just the start" of the virus becoming endemic on the continent.