Veterinary Services continues state of emergency to face Bird Flu

CAIRO – 6 December 2017: The Central Administration of Preventive Medicine at the General Authority for Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture announced the continuation of the state of emergency in Egyptian governorates to face bird flu on Wednesday.

The Central Administration started implementing a number of precautionary measures to combat strands of bird flu that appeared in 2015 and 2016, H5N1 and H5N8, respectively.

Veterinary departments currently have teams that offer proper health treatment particularly for the disease. The center’s team members have been trained to ensure the safe disposal of birds and raise public awareness within the detected areas, explained the Central Administration.

To stay up-to-date with disease foci and ensure that the necessary measures are taken into account, veterinary departments regularly take samples from poultry farms, chicken houses, residential houses in farms and markets.

Agriculture Ministry officials have issued statements to local media outlets to confirm that there have been outbreaks of the H5N8 strain of the bird flu virus in several governorates this year.

First detected in Egypt in 2006, the H5N1 bird flu virus quickly spread to poultry farmers and those handling live or dead birds, resulting in the hospitalization of over 300 individuals and the death of more than 120 others.

Dozens of people died in 2014 and 2015 in Egypt due to complications from contracting the H5N1 strain, with a particularly high rate of infection among women and children. However, reported incidence of the H5N1 strain among Egyptians declined in 2016.