"The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has approved plans to create an early warning system to alert North African countries of outbreaks of the deadly bird flu virus, H5N1.
"The plans, agreed on 24 December, will be implemented through the FAO's Technical Cooperation Programme and will cover Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
"The FAO has warned that migratory birds could bring the virus to Africa from parts of Asia and Eastern Europe where outbreaks have been reported."
MSNBC reports:
According to latest figures released by Turkish officials, 12 people have been confirmed as having contracted avian flu, while a further three, all children from the same family, succumbed to the virus last week.
Currently, there have been outbreaks of avian flu in wild and domestic poultry in 16 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, with one of the latest being Istanbul, the country’s most populous city.
Thus, the FAO initiative in North Africa seems very timely!
No comments:
Post a Comment