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Virus detected in two districts near the country’s capital, Porto Novo, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Benin has identified an outbreak of highly contagious H5N1 avian influenza in two districts near the capital Porto Novo, the agriculture ministry said.
Benin on Wednesday became the last West African country to declare an outbreak of bird flu, after Côte d’Ivoire identified the disease last week near its commercial capital Abidjan.
Cases were also detected this year in Ghana, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mauritania and Senegal.
Laboratory tests carried out last week showed that several recent bird deaths in the southern districts of Seme-Podji and Abomey Calavi in Benin were associated with positive cases of H5N1, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.
Benin is now waiting for these results to be confirmed by a laboratory in Italy, the statement said.
“To date, the situation on the infected farms is under control and action is being taken to determine the extent of any spread,” he said.
He called on people working in the poultry sector to strengthen biosecurity measures and report any suspected cases to the ministry.
H5N1, which was first detected in 1996 in geese in China, has since been detected in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. It can occasionally spread to humans, although no community spread of the virus among humans has been detected.
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