H5N1 Suspected in Togo
Recombinomics Commentary
June 17, 2007
A agriculture ministry statement cited by state media said test samples had been sent to a regional laboratory to determine whether the outbreak involved the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, which was reported in neighbouring Ghana in May.
The investigation was focusing on a semi-industrial farm at Sigbehoue, about 45 km (28 miles) east of the capital Lome, where about 2,000 chickens out of a total stock of 3,000 had died in two days, the official government Website said.
It quoted agriculture ministry officials as saying the remaining birds had been destroyed and the farm sealed off.
If confirmed, the Sigbehoue outbreak would be the first bird flu case detected in Togo, a small nation on the Gulf of Guinea sandwiched between Ghana to the west and Benin to the east.
The above comments suggest bird flu may be in Togo. Detection would not be surprised. Like Ghana, Togo is surrounded by countries that have confirmed H5N1 (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria). The sequences of the first three isolates from Ghana have been released, and they are most closely related to sequences from the Ivory Coast. However, Ghana has reported additional outbreaks to the north, an d the H5N1 is likely to be diverse. The initial sequences from Ghana had NA G743A, which has recently also been detected in Egypt and Russia, signaling transport and transmission by migratory birds.
Therefore, H5N1 is expected in countries in west Africa where multiple migratory bird flyways overlap.
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