Nigeria's information minister confirmed Thursday that H5N1 avian influenza has been detected in Lagos, the country's largest city and commercial center, bringing the total number of affected states to 12, including the area surrounding the federal capital, Abuja.
An outbreak was traced to a poultry farm in the Ikeja district of Lagos, though officials said the case had been reported weeks earlier. No human infections have been recorded among Nigeria's roughly 130 million residents. Lagos alone is home to an estimated 15 million people, and backyard chicken-keeping is common throughout the city.
Nigeria was the first African country to confirm H5N1 in its poultry. In the three months since the outbreak began, more than 450,000 birds have died or been culled. Chicken sales have fallen sharply, and several countries have banned Nigerian poultry imports.
The H5N1 strain has killed more than 90 people worldwide since it first emerged in Asia in 2003. The disease has already reached neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso, and health authorities fear it may continue spreading across the region.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in April 2006, in its own words.