Kenya - Humanitarian Relief Assistance to support Government Initiatives Preventing Avian Influenza in 2008

Avian Influenza (or Bird Flu) is viral infection that has the ability of infecting human beings that are in contact with ill birds or in an environment where the virus is present. There are two forms of the bird flu – the mildly pathogenic Avian Influenza (MPAI) and the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The most pathogenic strain is the H5N1. Since the first outbreak in 2003, about 150 persons have contracted the deadly H5N1 virus from direct contact with infected domestic birds and about half of them have died from H5N1 respiratory infection in countries such as Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Japan, Egypt, Nigeria, Korea and Malaysia. During this period, over 150 million chickens have either died from the disease or have been culled, resulting in an estimated economic loss of about US$ 10 billion. WHO has reported a total of 77 human cases with 50 fatalities in 7 countries-(Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nigeria and Viet Nam).