Bird flu kills 1,015 birds in Kpone-Katamanso municipality

The Avian Influenza H5N1 (Bird flu) has killed about 1,015 birds in a single poultry farm at Bethlehem, a community at the Kpone-Katamanso Municipality in the Greater Accra Region.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Kpone, Dr Emmanuel Kwao Pecku, the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Veterinary Officer, said the outbreak was reported to his outfit after which a test was conducted, which confirmed it was Avian Influenza.

Dr Pecku said an average of 46 birds died in a day and that plans were afoot to depopulate the farm to curb the spread into other farms.

 He explained that the Municipal Veterinary officers, in collaboration with the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Health Directorate, had deployed health officers to the farm to keep surveillance.

The affected poultry farm had about 1,060 layer birds out of which 1,015 were affected, he said, adding that 30 crates of eggs were also destroyed to prevent public consumption.

DrPecku called on the government and other benevolent organisations to pay critical attention to the plight of farmers affected by the H5N1 and provide them with Virkon disinfectants to their farms to prevent a future outbreak.

He revealed that the bird flu could be infectious to humans and health experts had been deployed to keep surveillance on other farms to ensure the birds and eggs were safe for consumption. -GNA