Uganda in Danger of Possible Avian Flu Outbreak

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Uganda's Lake Victoria shores were filled with dead birds on Sunday. The cause is Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, mainly known as the Avian flu. The virus had found its way from white-winged black terns to domesticated birds such as chickens and ducks. Both in separate locations

According to VOA, there are two sites that the samples were taken from, including Lake Victoria's beach and somewhere around central Uganda. Both sites showed positive HPAI and there are risks that the virus could affect civilians. Uganda Ministry of Agriculture states that the country should ready for a "catastrophe".

Furthermore, it remains still unclear which HPAI virus that attacked the birds. There's a possibility that it's from the terns, which migrated from Europe. The are also reports that the virus had struck a few places around France and Germany from which the terns had migrated from for winter. But the virus strain is harmless to humans. Last year, however, there's reports from the Middle East that the same virus has detected there. The situation led to the slaughter of farmed birds.

Eye Witness News further reports that the Ugandan government had a series of tests and states that HPAI could be lethal to humans. However, they did not tell which Avian Flu that hit the birds. One of the first reports about this was from fishermen on January 2, which was first described as "mass death of wild birds". On January 13, five ducks and hen in Masaka found infected with the virus.

This is the first time that Uganda was hit by the infamous avian flu. The virus itself originates from Asia and proved lethal to both humans and bird-like creatures. The Ugandan government has announced a nationwide warning of the virus's outbreak in the country.