Be vigilant and help contain spread of bird flu

The outbreak of the Avian flu in Uganda has triggered a strong response by local authorities to ensure that the pathogen does not find its way across the border and into Kenya. The flurry of activity was prompted after tests on dead birds at Lutembe beach in Lake Victoria and near Entebbe turned positive for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

Already, Kenyan authorities have banned the importation of poultry from Uganda and warned residents living near the border to watch out for uncharacteristic deaths of chicken. This is as it should be. To back this up, there must be increased vigilance at immigration entry points where health officers, equipped with reliable testing kits, are stationed.

However, greater effort must be made to track down migratory birds because the transmission of the virus could have devastating consequences as the strain can be transmitted to humans, and is held responsible for the deaths of several hundred people in Europe and Asia since 2003. In the short term, veterinary experts should be on hand to educate farmers about how best to handle their chicken to avoid infection.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence to suggest that the country is fully prepared to handle a major infection in its bird population. When the virus spread across Europe less than a decade ago, health experts responded by culling millions of birds on farms and moving them indoors to avoid contagion from infected wildlife.

Health experts in Kenya must anticipate scenarios where the virus has found its way into the country to determine how best to deal with a potential disaster. These experts can build on the experience of 2014 when Kenya was anticipating that the more virulent Ebola virus would find its way into the country.

At the time hard decisions had to be made, including stopping flights by the country’s national carrier to the affected regions in West Africa, a decision that ultimately led to the loss of billions of shillings for Kenya Airways, and virtually bought it to its knees. This is the kind of resolve we would like to see in the government’s handling of the Avian flu threat.

In the short term, East African countries must work together to minimise the effects of the Avian flu where it has already manifested itself. And in areas where it has not, business people should note that the ban on imports is not designed to stifle trade among countries of the region — it must be effected to stop the spread of the virus. Let’s protect our borders against this threat