Avian flu reaches South Cameroon

South Cameroon, a region sharing borders with Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, is now under the threat of an avian flu epizooty, after the discovery a few days ago of an outbreak in the market of the town of Ebolowa.

This is the 4th outbreak identified in the country after Yaoundé, in the Central region; Bafoussam and Bayangam, in the Western region.

On the ground, the measures taken to prohibit the sale have paralysed the poultry market, including in the regions where the H5N1 virus has not yet been declared, such as the Littoral region.

In Yaoundé, where the sale of chicken has been forbidden for over a week, the Mfoundi Prefect recently organised an offender hunt, going so far as to seize chickens in the rotisseries of the capital.

Within the Poultry Trade Association of Cameroon (IPAVIC), we learn, management is working hard at creating temporary markets in some sites considered healthy in Yaoundé and Bafoussam, in order to enable the producers to sell their goods.

“We hope to get the approval from the Ministry of Livestock to start selling”, indicates François Djonou, President of IPAVIC. Since, as he underlines, “if the chickens and eggs are not sold, this will be a disaster for the sector, with an impact on the country’s economy”.