The specific type of the virus has not yet been determined, so it is not yet known whether it is the H5N8 strain that has been causing problems all over Europe and recently spread to Nigeria.

Twenty cases in birds and seven deaths in the Masaka region of Uganda, dating from 2 January, were reported to the OIE in the past week, but 30,000 village birds were listed as susceptible. A further report described hundreds of cases in white-winged terns in Wasiko and Masaka.

However, comments from Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries indicate the problem may be larger: "There are still continuous deaths of wild ducks and birds along the shores and islands of Lake Victoria in Masaka and Wakiso districts," the Ministry said.

"In Masaka alone, wild and domestic birds are dying at alarming numbers and in Lutembe wetland white-winged terns are the ones dying. This is already a big threat to over thirty million domestic poultry in Uganda which calls for an urgent response to control the spread of the disease from wild birds to domestic birds."

Neighbouring countries Kenya and Rwanda have reportedly banned imports of poultry productions from Uganda as a result.

Further Reading

You can visit the avian flu page by clicking here.