12 March 2006
Sunday
Cameroon
reports H5N1 near Nigerian border as WHO Director- General outlines steps to
limit H5N1 spread in Africa
On Sunday, March 12, the Associated Press reported that the
government of Cameroon reported on state radio that the H5N1 avian influenza
virus has been found in a duck on a farm in the northern part of the country
near the border with Nigeria. If confirmed, Cameroon would become the 4th
African nation with the H5N1 virus, following Nigeria, Niger, and Egypt over
the past month. Human infections will be
diagnosed in the future in Africa, as have over 175 patients previously
identified by lab-testing from East and SE Asia, Iraq and Turkey.
The Cameroon government reported that the virological
identification of the virus as H5N1 had occurred at a reference laboratory in
Paris, France. A second media report, by
Reuters (South Africa), quoted France’s RFI radio as reporting that the Pasteur
Institute in Paris identified the virus as H5N1 and also reported that it was
isolated from a duck. Reuters cited the Cameroon English-language state radio
as reporting that young chicks in the northern town of Maria may have been
infected with H5N1 virus as well.
Reuters also reported that 1,000 dead one-day old chicks had been found
dumped near administrative offices in Morgue.
On Thursday, March 9th, the WHO Director-General,
Dr. LEE Jong-Wook, announced during a trip to Madagascar, Mauritius, and Kenya
that African nations must take action to limit the spread of H5N1 in animals
and the risk of infecting humans. Among
these actions he included:
One: Identify, confirm and rapidly report H5N1 in bird; then
act to stop the outbreaks, including by “on-the-spot” cash compensation to
backyard poultry owners.
Two: Identify, confirm, and treat people infected with H5N1
virus.
Three: Collect, examine, and share H5N1 specimens to
determine mutations in the virus that might allow the onset of a human
pandemic, and to develop better vaccines.
All nations must have both an avian influenza and a human pandemic
influenza preparedness plan.
The WHO Director-General went on to congratulate Kenya for
its very proactive role in influenza preparedness, including participating in
both the November 2005 meeting in Geneva and the January 2006 influenza meeting
in Beijing. He also emphasized the vulnerability of Africa given its “already
overburdened health care systems”. In addition, he cited the fact that “We do
not know, for example, what kind of an impact a pandemic influenza virus would
have on people who are already immunosuppressed as a result of HIV”.
The USA and other willing partners in the international
community should immediately take action to support the preparedness and
response needs of nations in Africa to prevent and control the further spread
of H5N1 avian influenza across the continent.
A failure to seize this initiative now means that the H5N1 virus will
become widely endemic in Africa and thus more deadly, more economically
ominous, and much more difficult, if not impossible, to prevent and
control.
Lessons from the past quarter century of global experience
with another virus, HIV, and its AIDS/SIDA pandemic, as well as the spread of
H5N1 influenza across Asia into Europe and Africa over the past three
years, should make perfectly transparent
the need for such immediate action by the USA and international partners.
Daniel R. Lucey, MD, MPH
Director, Center for Biologic Counterterrorism and Emerging
Diseases
ER One Institutes, Washington Hospital Center
Co-Director, Master of Science Program, Biohazardous Threat
Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Georgetown Medical School, Washington,
DC
Website: www.BePast.org
Email: Daniel.R.Lucey@Medstar.net