Abstract
Commercial layer-type, pullet, cockerel, and broiler chicken flocks infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in Nigeria between 2006 and 2008 were investigated for morbidity, mortality, and pathology. Of the one hundred and fifty-three (153) farms confirmed with HPAI infection, one hundred and twenty-seven (127) were layer-type farms, nine (9) were pullet and broiler farms each, and eight (8) were cockerel rearing farms. This study revealed the morbidity and mortality of a total of 939,620 commercial layer chickens, 16,421 pullets, 3,109 cockerels, and 6,433 broilers. Mortality rates were 11.11% in commercial layers, 26.84% in pullets, 45.51% in cockerels, and 73.92% in broilers in a total of eighteen (18) states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. A total of 316 carcasses were examined of which 248 were commercial layer, 25 were pullet, 14 were cockerel, and 29 were broiler. Main clinical and pathologic findings were observed in the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, integumentary, musculoskeletal, hemopoietic, gastrointestinal, and reproductive systems and, occasionally, lesions were generally nonspecific and multisystemic. Lesions occurred more frequently, severely, and in most of the carcasses examined, irrespective of chicken type.
Highlights
The index highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)-H5N1 was confirmed in Nigeria at a commercial poultry farm in Kaduna state, and, by the end of the initial outbreak, over 46,000 poultry [1, 2] had been destroyed
The north-western region recorded the highest number of mortalities in commercially raised chickens as a result of natural infection with HPAI in Nigeria
While the total number of chicken losses as a result of HPAI death and stamping out in this region (438,386) was second to the south-western region where commercial bird losses totaled 445,320 and the number that died as a result of HPAI when the reporting was done was 26,878, being 23.38% of the total number of commercial chickens that died as a result of HPAI
Summary
The index HPAI-H5N1 was confirmed in Nigeria at a commercial poultry farm in Kaduna state, and, by the end of the initial outbreak, over 46,000 poultry [1, 2] had been destroyed This outbreak brought the Asian strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 into Africa for the first time in the beginning of January, 2006 [3,4,5,6,7] in Nigeria. Since its emergence in Africa in 2006, avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype have spread rapidly to poultry farms in several African countries It has caused deaths of millions of birds in Africa [9], as is the case in other affected parts of the world. This study aimed at achieving the determination of the losses on a state by state basis and the total losses recorded during the entire course of the disease in Nigeria and aimed at highlighting the morbidity, mortality, and pathology in the commercial poultry production systems as practiced in Nigeria
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