Cote d’Ivoire Detects First Bird Flu Cases Since 2015

Ivory Coast has detected its first cases since 2015 of the H5N1 bird flu in poultry farms, the government said Thursday.

“Since July 20, high death rates among poultry were spotted in traditional and modern poultry firms in Mondoukou” east of the country’s economic hub Abidjan, Livestock and Fisheries Minister Sidi Tiemoko Toure said in a statement.

He added that “laboratory analysis confirmed the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus”.

The government has ordered all poultry in the affected area slaughtered.

With memories in mind of past outbreaks in 2006 and 2015, ministers have also blocked poultry imports from infected countries.

A number of west African nations have reported H5N1 outbreaks since January.

The flu virus is transmitted both by poultry and migrating wild birds.

H5N1 and another strain, H7N9, have both made the jump to humans after infecting poultry, although cases of human-to-human transmission remain rare.