Rivers Among The 21 States Hit By Bird Flu

Bird Flu

The Rivers State government has confirmed that the state is among the twenty one states recently listed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture as states hit by avian influenza, popularly called bird flu.

The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Otonyetarie Okoye, who disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Friday, said bird flu has been discovered in some farms in Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt City local government areas of the state.



Okoye stated that the ministry was making efforts to contain the spread of the bird flu from the affected farms, adding that the state government was already closing down illegal poultry farms in the state.



She also appealed to the public to be careful with the nature of poultry products they purchaed for consumption.

The permanent secretary also advised the public to properly cook their poultry products before consumption.

Recall that last August, there were reports of a new outbreak of the bird flu virus in Choba area of the state, the state government took samples of stool of the birds to the National Veterinary Institute, Jos, for bird flu test.