Ghana halts poultry exports after H5N1 outbreak

ACCRA, May 3 (Reuters) Ghana halted poultry exports and began farm-to-farm checks around the capital Accra today, a day after the West African country declared its first outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu.

Several countries in West Africa have had outbreaks of the disease among poultry, and the worst-hit, Nigeria, reported sub-Saharan Africa's only confirmed human death from H5N1 early this year.

''We've veterinary officers going from farm to farm to check for signs of the disease,'' Mensah Agyen-Frempong, director of veterinary services in Ghana, told Reuters.

''If there are any suspicious birds we'll conduct tests. If they test positive, we'll destroy them.'' Health authorities detected a case of bird flu on a poultry farm at Tema, Ghana's main port city 18 km east of Accra. All 1,678 birds on the farm -- mostly chickens and a few ducks -- were incinerated to control the disease.

At least 200 million birds have died or been culled because of the H5N1 strain as it has spread from Asia around much of the world in recent years.

The first case in Africa was detected in poultry in Nigeria in early 2006, and outbreaks were subsequently confirmed in Ghana's neighbours Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso as well as nearby Niger and Cameroon.

The global human death toll stands at 172.

Experts are worried weak human and animal health services in sub-Saharan Africa may allow the virus to go unnoticed, giving it more chance to mutate into a form that could pass between people and trigger a human pandemic.

Agyen-Frempong said poultry exports, mostly day-old chicks from hatcheries in the central city of Kumasi being shipped to neighbouring countries, had been halted.

''For now no birds are going in and no birds are coming out ... No country would want birds from here anyway. But imports are permissible from countries which are certified to be free from avian influenza,'' he said.

REUTERS SG RAI1913