The Zambian government should get fully prepared for the invasion of bird flu to Africa though such cases are not yet reported on the continent so far, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said here Tuesday.

"It's better to be prepared rather than start after the pandemic breaks out," Dong Qingsong, FAO country representative in Zambia, told a press briefing.

He, however, noted that the disease has not yet crossed the Mediterranean and Red Sea so there was no need to panic.

Dong said all stakeholders including the government, donors, non-governmental organizations and civil societies should work together ahead of the outbreak of bird flu which has hit most parts of the world and dealt a heavy blow to the poultry industry.

He said there was no evidence so far of bird flu outbreak in Africa but the possibility of the virus being transmitted to the continent was high.

He noted that migratory birds would fly to the eastern and southern parts of Africa from the Middle East convergence point.

"They'll come to low temperature area such as Zambia," Dong said, noting that once Zambia comes to rain season by the end of November the low temperature would attract those migratory birds here thus spreading the disease to the continent.

Dong said a special task force for bird flu had been set up in Zambia two weeks ago which was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture Mundia Sikatana.

He said FAO would work together with World Health Organization and other partners behind the government as a supporter to provide technical assistance and strengthen disease surveillance and monitoring.

FAO would also help the government strengthen its lab capacity in order to early detect any bird flu outbreak, Dong said.

Source: Xinhua