Free of H5N1, Ghana reports

Full story: http://www.modernghana.com/GhanaHome/NewsArchive/news_details.asp?menu_id=1&id=VFZSUmVrOVVhekU9

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) yesterday announced that the nation is officially free of H5N1 in birds. After detecting H5N1 on small poultry farms in three separate districts between early April and late May of this year, the MOFA set up a quaratine and surveillance area around the farms, where more than 13,000 birds died from the virus. Nearly 30,000 more birds were culled to prevent spread of the disease.

Three weeks is the typical period between disinfection and a declaration of this nature, however the government extended this period by a couple of weeks to allow for greater surveillance.

The government recently began an education campaign for farmers on biosecurity to prevent future outbreaks and encourage the reporting of sick and dead birds. Ghana has also set up a compensation system to incentivize farmers to promptly report possible outbreaks of H5N1.