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H5 Confirmed in Ethiopia
Recombinomics Commentary
February 28, 2006
Officials found the H5 strain in samples from 6,082 chickens that started dying on Feb. 18 at a poultry farm in southern Ethiopia, said Dr. Seleshi Zewdie, head of the animal health department at the Agriculture Ministry.
Finding H5 from over 6000 dead chickens leave no doubt that the H5 in Ethiopia is H5N1. Finding H5N1 in domestic poultry prior to wild birds is a strong indication of a weak surveillance method. In Europe all countries reported H5N1 in wild birds prior to detecting the virus in domestic poultry, The latest data from Ethiopia provides strong evidence that H5N1 has spread throughout Africa and well beyond Egypt, Nigeria, and Niger. Clearly surveillance methods or reporting procedures in Africa are poor, at best.
Isolation of H5N1 in Africa before it migrates north to the Middle East, Europe, and North America in the spring would be useful
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