First human H5N1 bird flu case in Horn of Africa

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a two-year-old girl in Djibouti has been become infected with H5N1; the girl is the first confirmed human case in the Horn of Africa.

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson has confirmed the case and says the girl is alive and receiving treatment in hospital; her condition is unknown.

The results were tested in conjunction with the WHO at a laboratory in Egypt.

Health Minister Abdallah Abdillahi Miguil has reportedly said that three domestic chickens have also been detected with the H5N1 virus.

Miguil says a team of scientists and doctors are meeting to plan how to contain the outbreak and to try to establish how the girl contracted the disease.

The country has apparently also banned the importation of chickens from other nations.

The Republic of Djibouti, is a former French colony.

It is a small country in eastern Africa with 300,000 inhabitants, at the mouth of the Red Sea and sits in the pathway of migratory birds who have been detected with the deadly strain.

Djibouti is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast.

The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

On the other side of the Red Sea, on the Arabian Peninsula, 20 kilometres from the coast of Djibouti, is Yemen.