Kenyan bird experts on Tuesday began probing the cause of fowl deaths in Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley that have raised fears of a possible avian-flu outbreak, officials said.
The veterinary experts arrived in Lake Naivasha, about 90km north-west of Nairobi, to take samples from dead birds that have succumbed to a mysterious disease in the past week.
”We can confirm that there are several dead migratory and resident birds and we are still working with locals to know the exact numbers,” said James Kamotho, who led the team. ”It is hard to determine the cause of the deaths until we do our tests and analyses in Nairobi.”
Kamotho said that they had counted 26 dead birds in just one area of the lake, but said the number could rise.
In February, virology tests turned out negative for the virulent H5N1 strain of the avian flu as the cause of death of hundreds of chickens found dumped near the capital. The government has said it is fully prepared to deal with potential cases of H5N1 and last year banned the importing of poultry from countries where the virus has been reported.
Although the flu does not spread easily between people, those who come into contact with sick birds can contract it and scientists say millions of people worldwide could die if the strain mutates into a disease communicable among humans.
It has claimed more than 100 lives, according to the World Health Organisation, and has spread to birds in at least five countries in Africa — Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Niger and Nigeria — which is considered especially vulnerable to human outbreaks.
The Rift Valley countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa are considered particularly at risk from bird flu as they host millions of migratory fowl.
Lake Naivasha itself hosts 365 species of both migratory and resident birds. — Sapa-AFP