Avian influenza in village chickens, its awareness and presence of potential risk practices among rural dwellers

ObjectiveTo assess the presence of antibodies to the avian influenza virus H5 subtype in village chickens.MethodsA total of 480 sera samples were obtained from apparently healthy local chickens in four local government areas (LGAs). The sera samples were subjected to the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test using the H5N2 avian influenza antigen.ResultsAn overall prevalence of 2.92% with a mean antibody titre of (7.07±0.73) log2 was obtained. There was a low level of awareness of avian influenza among the rural dwellers, the electronic and print media were the most common source of awareness.ConclusionsThis result highlights the important role apparently healthy village chickens may play in virus perpetuation (reservoir) and in the spread of avian influenza to other animals and humans.