Bird Flu Deaths Stir Fears in Azerbaijan

The death of three humans from bird flu in Azerbaijan has sparked controversy about the government's response to the health crisis. Some observers contend that officials are not doing all that they can to prevent the disease's spread.

The three individuals, who died earlier this month, were from a village in the Salyan region, in the south of the country near the Caspian Sea coast. Azerbaijan's Lung Disease Research Institute, where the three were treated, maintains that contact with birds carrying avian flu caused the trio's illness. The Institute does not believe that the virus passed from human to human.

The results announced on March 13 came from a mobile laboratory brought into Azerbaijan from the US Naval Medical Research Unit in Cairo. The tests ran positive for H5 avian flu, but the exact strain of the virus is not yet known. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated March 14 that it believed that the test results are reliable. The WHO has sent an epidemiologist and clinician to Azerbaijan for further investigation.

Meanwhile, fears are growing about a possible mutation of the H5N1 virus into an easily communicable form. On March 14, the ANS television station reported that the villages in Salyan District where the deaths were registered are in full panic. "People try not to interact with each other. Neither the villagers, nor the district's veterinary service, nor the Health Ministry know what to do," the station reported. Roads to the villages nevertheless remain open, though only two disinfecting stations for passing cars have been set up by the district veterinary service. Agriculture Minister Ismat Abbasov told journalists that all migrant and domestic birds within a three-kilometer radius of the village in Salyan district are being destroyed.

A spokesperson for the Health Ministry said that six other people from Salyan District have tested negative for bird flu. Another two individuals are also suspected to have died from bird flu in western Azerbaijan's Tartar District, the Red Crescent Society's Tartar office told ANS Radio on March 14. Tuberculosis was the official cause of death, though health officials have not ruled out bird flu as the cause, the radio station reported.

WHO assumes that altogether 11 people have been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus in Azerbaijan, said spokesperson Maria Cheng. Samples have been taken from the three deceased victims and their family members to send to laboratories in London for testing, she added. The international organization expects to learn the results of the tests within two weeks.

But some observers argue that still more needs to be done to stop the spread of the virus.

One international expert, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Azerbaijan was badly prepared to handle the virus when it was first detected in dead migratory birds in early February. [For more information, see the EurasiaNet archive]. The government is still reacting slowly to the problem, the expert charged.

The chairwoman of the medical commission of the Azerbaijani branch of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly agreed. No real results have come from the $3.2 million allocated by the government for fighting bird flu, said Tamilla Karimova. If a serious public awareness campaign had been carried out since early February, human deaths could have been avoided, she argued.

International organizations, such as the WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and others, are working together to fight bird flu in Azerbaijan, but, as the international expert noted, the focus is mostly on laboratory and technical support. The ADB has granted the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture $50,000 in aid that includes 6,000 items of protective clothing, respirators, gloves, and 500 protective glasses. The equipment was intended mainly for veterinarians. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been implementing several projects in this sphere as well, including publishing thousands of brochures that inform farmers and poultry producers about how to work with chickens, and providing testing equipment and over 1,500 protective suits.

"The international organizations are seeking to inform people about bird flu and preventive measures through non-governmental organizations, but such organizations are not so many in the country and they can issue only thousands of leaflets," the expert said. "A nationwide information campaign should be conducted by the government."

To date, the avian flu has killed at least 98 people in seven countries in Asia and the Middle East, including four individuals in neighboring Turkey. The virus has also been detected in dead swans in western Georgia, not far from the border with Turkey.

The first case of bird flu in migratory birds in Azerbaijan was detected in early February, when dead birds on the Absheron peninsula near Baku and in the Masalla region, near Iran, were found to have the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease. Veterinary workers continue to find dead migratory birds, according to Environment Minister Hussein Bagirov, although the minister noted that the numbers had fallen from 1,000 dead birds per day to just 60-70 per day now. For the past month and a half, Bagirov told journalists, more than 15,000 wild birds have been killed. In early March local news agencies reported that more than 500,000 chickens had been destroyed in two poultry farms as part of the government's campaign.

Samaya Mammadova, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, however, stated that the government is keeping the situation under control and will continue to take "prophylactic" measures and distribute information.