Côte d’Ivoire has stepped up its surveillance of poultry to detect possible outbreaks of avian influenza following the death of a Nigerian woman who contracted the illness last month.

As part of Côte d’Ivoire’s measures, thousands of agents from the government’s committee to fight bird flu have been deployed to assess the situation, said Alphonse Douaty, minister of Animal Production and Marine Resources.

In addition, he said, the bird flu fight is being decentralised to facilitate communication.

“For some time we have been crisscrossing the towns of the interior of the country to put in place departmental committees to fight avian flu. Like at the national level, these committees must serve as relay centres for information concerning the illness and warn in case it is detected,” Douaty told reporters.

More than 165 people have died of avian influenza around the world, but the Nigerian death was the first human fatality in sub-Saharan Africa. Hundreds of thousands of fowl have been culled across the sub-region to stem the spread of the virus. In West Africa, bird flu has also been detected in Burkina Faso, Niger and Cameroon.

The latest efforts by the Côte d’Ivoire government do not extend to the north of the country, which is controlled by rebels. The nation has been divided since a brief civil war in 2002.

But the World Health Organisation spokesman in Abidjan, Souleymane Koné, said the division of the country did not affect the international agency’s efforts to control avian flu.

“At our level, all the prevention programmes, notably vaccination and tracking birds, encompass the entire national territory, including the government zone and the north of the country,” he told IRIN on Friday.

Ivorians say there is little trading of poultry between the north and the south.

The Ivorian government formed its central avian flu committee last April after the first case of the disease was detected in the country. A mass culling followed that outbreak. Another outbreak at a poultry farm outside of Abidjan occurred in November.

Douaty encouraged Ivorians, particularly poultry farmers, to maintain vigilance and alert authorities if they notice any sick birds - domesticated or wild.

The government is expected to soon announce a vaccination campaign against avian flu. Officials said it would be free for farmers raising fewer than 1,000 head of poultry and less than one US cent a head for those with larger flocks.

Although poultry breeders in the past were skeptical about the threat of avian influenza, they appear to be taking it more seriously since the human death in Nigeria.

“We’re always worrying,” said Lamine Keita, owner of a farm with 2,500 poultry on the outskirts of Abidjan. “We have learned that it arrived in Nigeria and we have decided to follow to the letter the recommendations of the government.”

But vendors and consumers remain doubtful of the potential threat.

“Each time they announce avian flu it’s for us to lose money. The poultry that remains for us is that which is left over from the end of year celebrations and we are going to sell it whatever happens. If authorities want, they should also ban the consumption of poultry,” said Abou Koné, a poultry vendor in the neighbourhood of Port-Bouët.

“We agree with him,” said Maxime Koffi, one of the clients lining up in front of Kone’s stall. “We mostly eat chicken. We think the chicken he sells is of good quality and we buy it without a second thought.”