Spread of bird flu slows in Nigeria
Reuters
May 10, 2006

The spread of deadly H5N1 bird flu in Nigeria is slowing three months after the disease was first detected in Africa's most populous country, officials said on Wednesday.

The first African state to be hit by bird flu, Nigeria has not reported any human cases of the disease although experts warn surveillance may not be completely effective and cases may have gone undetected.

In the first few weeks, bird flu spread rapidly in poultry across the country despite measures to contain it such as culling and quarantine, and outbreaks were reported in 13 of Nigeria's 36 states and in the Federal Capital Territory.

But there have been no outbreaks in new states since the disease reached the largest city, Lagos, in late March...[however] it would not be safe to consider the disease contained, but recent evidence suggested measures to prevent its spread were working better than at the start.