There is currently no confirmed definitive presence of avian influenza in Uganda, a press release available here Saturday from the Uganda Media Center has said.

The newly established media center under the Ministry of Information said, "since its formation, the National Task Force has developed an emergency preparedness and response plan. As part of emergency preparedness, a surveillance plan has been put in place monitoring migratory birds and domestic poultry."

The press release quoted the task force as saying that "in the process of monitoring, samples were collected from dead wild birds and chickens on farms experiencing unusual death rates. These were sent to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) Laboratory at KEMRI, Nairobi for testing."

"As of March 3, 2006, 6.00 p.m. (1300 GMT), CDC was unable to confirm the presence of Avian Influenza in the samples. Further research is being undertaken at more specialized laboratories," it said.

It said that within the bird population the main carriers are wild birds, though domestic poultry suffers most, and the virus is carried mainly in bird excreta. This disease predominately affects birds and is not easily transmittable to humans.

However, the press release advised the general public to minimize the risk of contracting bird flu by limiting interaction between humans and sick birds.

It said that Ugandan chicken is still free of bird flu and poses no health threat to the general public.

"It is safe to eat chicken, eggs and other poultry products," the press release added.

Source: Xinhua