15 August 2008
Jos — Dr Ezekiel Pam, Desk Officer, (Animal Health), Avian Influenza Preparedness Project, has advised poultry farmers in Plateau to make effective use of the 17 surveillance facilities provided for their operations.
He gave the advice yesterday in Jos in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos.
Pam said the facilities were to ensure the control of Avian Influenza in the event of an outbreak of the disease.
He also advised them to promptly report suspected cases of the disease to the local government desk officers in their areas.
Pam gave the assurance that the country was well equipped to contain the new strain of the disease reported to have been discovered in Nigeria.
According to him,"the level of preparedness in the country today is more than what it was in 2006 and 2007, when the disease first broke out in the country".
Pam said relevant authorities had beefed up surveillance on the disease, and urged poultry farmers to also increase their bio-security measures.
The measures, he added, include preventing the entry of unauthorised vehicles into poultry farms and disinfecting borrowed equipment before use.
Others are keeping all poultry farms clean, separating birds according to age, breed and species, as well as protecting their birds from coming in contact with wild birds.
The first outbreak of the disease in 2006 affected 97 local governments spread across 25 states.
The new outbreak was confirmed in Fagen-Kawo and Kagarko in Kano and Katsina states respectively.
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