From: Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
After reported outbreak of avian influenza, also known as bird flu at a breeder poultry farm in Ogun State, the state government has activated bird flu control measures to curtail the spread of the disease to other parts of the state.
The measures, according to the government, became necessary in the face of the outbreak of the disease at a breeder poultry farm, located at Orile-Ilugun in Odeda Local Government area of the Ogun State.
This was contained in a statement on Friday by the Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, Mrs. Adepeju Adebajo, in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Adebajo disclosed that the ministry had visited the farm on September 7, to carry out disease surveillance activities, with the intention of curtailing any potential spread of the virus.
“The causative agent was found to be H5N8, which is a variant of the H5N1 virus, that was previously known to exist in Nigeria”, Adebajo added.
She however, disclosed that there is no cause for alarm, as no live bird from other poultry farms in the state had tested positive to the highly pathogenic bird flu.
According to her, samples of birds taken from another poultry farm in the Local Government Area of the state had tested negative to the H5N8 virus.
“Other farms and markets in Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Ilaro and Ayetoro were not left out,” she added.
The last reported incidence of bird flu in Ogun State occurred in October 2015.