40 Poultry farm workers screened
More than 40 poultry farm workers in the Greater Accra Region who have come into close contact with birds infected with Avian flu have been screened to avoid the spread of the disease among humans.
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The farm workers were working on three farms that have recorded outbreaks of the bird flu.
Out of the 40 farm workers medically examined, one had earlier shown signs of respiratory ailment, but medical results proved negative.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra Thursday, the acting Head of the Disease Surveillance Unit of the Ghana Health Service, Mr Michael Adjabeng, said the farm workers were monitored for seven days after their last exposure to infected birds and had shown no signs of the disease.
Red alert
Mr Adjabeng said the Disease Surveillance Unit was on red alert to deal with any suspected human case.
According to him, the unit would continue to do follow-ups on the farm workers to ensure that all initial signs of the disease were dealt with promptly to avoid an epidemic.
He, however, asked the public to be on high alert as well for cases of the disease, after the World Organisation for Animal Health confirmed the presence of the disease in Ghana.
A Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Hannah Bissiw, said although there had been an outbreak of bird flu in Ghana, there had not been a transfer of the disease to humans.
According to her, some farms at Kpone had been quarantined following the outbreak of the disease in the poultry.
Dr Bissiw said the quarantine exercise was to prevent the transfer of the flu to humans.
The Head of Public Health at the Veterinary Services Department, Dr Bashiru Boi Kikimoto, is reported to have said that emergency preparedness plans had already been activated and all farmer executive associations, as well as district and regional veterinary offices, had been made aware of the situation and were prepared to deal with it in case of an outbreak.
He tasked farmers to not delay if they found their birds acting in a suspicious manner.
The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research confirmed the outbreak of the Avian flu, also known as bird flu, in May 2015.
