Fresh outbreak of bird flu that has killed 200 birds has been recorded in Bakori in Nigeria's northern state of Katsina, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported on Monday.

Alhaji Halliru Atiku, head of the agriculture department of the Bakori local government was quoted as saying that the disease was discovered in Bakori and Jargaba towns, about 280 km north from the Nigerian capital Abuja.

He said the local governments had taken measures including aggressive enlightenment campaigns to prevent the spread of the disease to other parts.

He added that the Katsina State Committee on Prevention and Control of Bird Flu had provided chemicals to disinfect the poultry farms in the areas. The outbreak came a week after the Nigerian federal government paid a compensation of 1.7 million naira (about 13,000 U.S. dollars) to poultry farmers who lost their birds to the disease in the state.

The epidemic has now been confirmed in 13 of Nigeria's 36 states plus the federal capital territory Abuja, but no human case has been detected so far in the country.

Nigeria is the first in Africa to report the presence of the H5N1 virus and has blamed illegal imports of poultry for the outbreak.

Source: Xinhua